We're the Young Ones Now
by x Shut Up And S m i l e
Summary: Voldemort is rising, tearing apart the Wizarding World as he goes. Lily Evans and James Potter find themselves in the middle of the action, even at school. ON HIATUS!
1. The Hogwarts Express

**Disclaimer: I own a few things, including: One iPod, one phone, three different versions of the Harry Potter books (American hard back, paper back, and British paperback). A ton of T-shirts from various colleges in a variety of colors, quite a few notebooks, and a Hufflepuff scarf.**

**But I definitely don't own Harry Potter, it all belongs to JK Rowling, anyone who mistakes me for her should probably get their eyes checked. **

**A/N: So here it is, at long last, the new story. For those of you who read _Lily's the Man_ I assume you'll know that there is more Author's Note at the bottom. (;  
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**Chapter 1: The Hogwarts Express**

Lily Evans, already changed into her pitch black Hogwarts robes, Gryffindor tie, and newly acquired Head Girl badge, happily pushed her trunk in front of her as she navigated through Platform 9 3/4. Her wavy red hair, pulled back into a high pony tail, swung back and forth happily with every step she took.

You see, this was the year she was determined to make everything _right_. It was just a feeling in her gut: this was going to be a good year. She had been appointed Head Girl. Her future was ahead. She had her N.E.W.T's at the end of the year, and she intended to get top marks in order to be accepted into the Ministry of Magic, which was highly competitive among seventh years at Hogwarts. Her ideal department would be the Magical Law Enforcement, more specifically, the Auror Office. Since Voldemort was on the rise, her family (all muggles) were constantly in danger. She wanted to do her part in stopping him.

Thinking of her family, she smiled ruefully, remembering her farewell to her mother minutes before.

_"Good-bye, darling," her mother said, smoothing her daughter's hair fondly and kissing Lily on the top of her head. _

_"'Bye, Mum," she returned, smiling._

_"Your father would be very proud of you," Mrs. Evans said softly. Lily nodded, looking at her feet. Her father had died of leukemia when she was twelve. He knew that his youngest daughter was a witch, and the day she got her letter was probably the proudest he'd ever been of her. Thinking of this, Lily sniffled, but gave her mother one final hug and a watery smile before pushing her cart through the magical barrier to the Platform.  
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"LI-LY!"

Lily turned to the noise that shook her out of her thoughts, only to break out into a large smile as two girls rushed towards her, already wrapping their arms around her in a tight embrace.

The first, the one who called to her, was Harlene Pensky (more commonly known as Harley). Her long, dark brown hair almost choked Lily but the redhead simply laughed. Harley stood back and smiled apologetically, her warm hazel-green eyes alight with excitement.

The second, Zoe Simmons, had deep, black hair and blue eyes, and was a couple inches shorter than Harley and Lily. Her short hair was pulled back in a high ponytail. Zoe was more sarcastic and dry, at least compared to Lily and Harley. She had a hard exterior but the insides of a marshmallow (at least, according to Harley).

She and Harley knew each other before Hogwarts. They were both half-bloods, and Harley's mother and Zoe's father had been friends while at Hogwarts. When they were five, Harley's family moved to the same development as Zoe's family, and the two girls ended up going to the same muggle primary school together. They'd met Lily in first year, during their first Charms class.

"How are you, Lil?" Zoe said now.

"Oh, you know, same old same old. The summer with Petunia and Vernon was simply _delightful._"

"Oh yeah, sounds smashing. How's Britain's Least Favorite Couple?"

"Engaged."

Zoe's eyes widened. "_Really_?"

Lily nodded and laughed when Harley started to mime vomiting. "Don't be so mean. The Wedding is in April. Tuney at least invited me to be the Maid of Honor." _Most likely forced to by Mum_, she added to herself.

"Well, I suppose that's good," Harley shrugged.

"'Get's you out of school for a couple of days, at the very least," Zoe pointed out.

"Hmm, true. But whatever, we'll have plenty of time to talk about this! Besides, Marlene and Alice don't know yet! Where are they?"

"Dunno," Harley said. "Me and Zoe got here at the same time about fifteen minutes ago, we couldn't find either. They must still be on their way."

"We'll save them seats. Speaking of which, we should get on soon before some cocky fifth years think they can steal our compartment," Zoe said.

"So how were _your_ summers? Har, I haven't gotten a letter from you in a month!" Lily scolded, all the while hoisting her trunk onto the train. Zoe and Harley hopped on after her.

"Well, you know I went to the beach," Harley reminded her. "And about my mom and her insane rule about no communication with friends while on family vacation. But Jason," her thirteen-year-old brother, also in Gryffindor, "would send out an owl every couple of nights to his _girlfriend_-"

"Aww, Jason's got a girlfriend?" Zoe smirked. "How do you have a girlfriend in third year, anyways?"

"Ask Sirius," Harley shrugged. Lily and Zoe laughed, and Harley continued on, "_Anyways, _the beach was so _relaxing. _I never wanted to leave." Lily smiled. The three walked through the train towards the compartment Harley and Zoe had secured.

"Oh, wait, I have to go to the Head Compartment first," Lily said, hanging back. Zoe looked over her shoulder, and Harley nudged her in the ribs with her elbow. Lily noticed, but didn't understand the significance of this interaction.

"Do you know who the new Head Boy is?" Zoe asked. Lily sighed.

"No. I heard from someone it was Fabian Prewett, but that might have been just a rumor."

"Well, tell us who it is when you get back! We'll take your trunk with us!" Harley said, dragging it along with her and Zoe. Lily smiled and waved and made her way in the opposite direction, towards the front of the train.

Her mind wandered, thinking of who the Head Boy could possibly be. Normally, two of the prefects were made Head Boy and Girl. Only a few times in the past had someone been made a Head with no Prefect history. Remus Lupin, someone Lily considered to be a close friend, could be a possible choice. He was responsible and knew how to keep younger students in line if the need ever arose. But perhaps they wanted to keep the Head Students from two different houses? Then Fabian Prewett also could've been a good choice. He and his twin brother, Gideon, were good guys; smart, funny, very kind. Gideon obviously wasn't a prefect, but he never got bitter or jealous. Must be the Hufflepuff in him or something.

Just as Lily was coming to the conclusion that the Head Boy was most likely Fabian (which she wasn't too upset about - the Prewett Twins weren't exactly unattractive), she came up on the Head Compartment. The blinds were open, making it rather easy to see into the small room. She peered inside before going in, the Head Boy with his back turned away.

It wasn't Fabian, since Fabian had lighter brown - almost orange - hair, and this one had pitch black.

Looking at it, Lily noticed it was particularly messy, and stuck up in the back atrociously, like he'd just been electrocuted. The boy turned his head a little, and Lily thought she saw the edge of a pair of glasses.

Oh.

It _couldn't_ be.

They had finally reached civility with each other a few months before term had ended for the summer.

Dumbledore wouldn't take advantage of that.

Right?

Just as she thought this and opened the door, the young man turned to face her fully, hazel eyes, very similar to Harley's now that she was thinking of it, sparkling with delight behind his round glasses. He, too, was already in his Hogwarts Robes, red and gold 'HB' pin shining merrily as though mocking Lily. His tie wasn't tightened enough, his shirt was untucked, the top few buttons unbuttoned, and his shoelaces were untied.

"Hey, Lily!"

* * *

><p>"We'll take your trunk with us!" Harley waved to Lily as her red-haired friend turned away. Once Lily was out of sight, Harley turned to Zoe. "Why didn't you tell her the Head Boy was James?"<p>

"I don't know, I panicked!" Zoe hissed. "Why didn't _you_?"

"I - I didn't want to be the one to tell her," Harley said, unsure. "If she knew beforehand then she might even refuse to go meet with him."

"Rubbish, they'd been getting along fine last year!"

"Yeah, but... I don't know, _James_ as Head Boy? That might just be too much of a shock for her!"

Zoe and Harley had arrived at King's Cross almost simultaneously. After hugs and happy greetings, they had walked past the magical barrier and onto Platform 9 3/4, and hopped onto the train. They chose a compartment near the back, stowed their things on the racks, and then went back outside to search for Lily or any of their other friends. On the way, though, they happened across the Marauders, who seemed to be enjoying a good joke. They were laughing hysterically, except for James, who was smiling weakly.

_"What's so funny?" Harley asked, stopping in front of them._

_"Oh, hey Pensky, Simmons," Sirius chortled._

_Harley was about to repeat herself when Zoe gasped, her mouth agape, and pointed to James's chest._

_"James? Who did you steal that from?"_

_On the front of his robes was a badge identical to Lily's, save for the 'G' being a 'B' on his._

_"What?" James asked, alarmed. He looked to where she was pointing, and said, "I didn't steal it!"_

_"No, really," Zoe said, crossing her arms. "Where did you get it?"_

_"Dumbledore sent it to me with a letter," he said slowly, enunciating each word carefully._

_"You don't mean.." Harley trailed off._

_"Yup! Our Jamesie here is Head Boy!" Sirius shouted, slinging his arm around James's neck._

_"You can't be serious," Harley said. Sirius opened his mouth, a gleeful look on his face, but she cut him off. "That pun is _very_ old."_

_"That pun is _never_ old, love," Sirius corrected._

_"We know it's hard to believe," Remus said quickly, pulling Sirius back. "But it's true. We've all seen the letter and everything."_

_"Wow," Zoe said, eyes wide. "That's er-"_

_"Insane? Irresponsible? Just plain stupid?" Peter suggested lightly, causing a few chuckles to emerge, especially from James, though his seemed to be more nervous than amused._

_"Well, yes," Harley smiled. "Congratulations, though, James."_

_"Thanks," he said, looking down at his feet sheepishly. This was very odd for James Potter.  
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_"Have you seen the Head Girl yet?" Zoe asked, frowning._

_"It's Lily, right?" _

_"Of course, everyone saw that coming since second year."_

_"Right," he said, not really paying attention._

_"Go on, your supposed to go to the Head Compartment," Remus said, giving him a gentle push towards Zoe and Harley, who got out of his way._

_James took a few shaky steps, as though on Death Row. But then he turned around and said brightly, "You know, this might not be too bad. We've been all right. I think she'd even consider me a friend, now!" and quickened his pace, slowly disappearing from view._

_"I dunno, if he greets Evans with a big hug and a "Spiffing day, best buddy! Guess who the new Head Boy is! Me! The one person you hated above all others until only a few short months ago!" I think Lily might have some sort of fifth year flashback and smack him," Sirius said, shaking his head._

_"Always the optimist," Harley rolled her eyes._

_"See you guys later, we're going to find Mrs. Head Girl," Zoe said in farewell, loping her arm around Harley's and steering her towards the nearest train exit._

_"Bye!" The three boys chorused._

Looking back on this scene, Harley wondered if maybe they should have told Lily. Less of a shock.

Oh well. It's in the past now.

"Let's go find Mar or Alice," Harley suggested. They traveled down the train, but still couldn't find either of their blonde friends.

Zoe shrugged when they arrived back at their compartment. "We'll see them at the feast. Alice is probably with Frank."

"Marlene's probably passed out in some compartment full of first years."

"That's our Marley."

Zoe was now petting her cat, Auden, on the head, the all black cat purring loudly. Harley always said that Zoe and Auden matched, since Zoe's hair was the same color as Auden's fur. If only the cat had blue eyes, then it would be perfect.

"Hello, again!"

They both turned towards the noise, and saw Peter, Remus, and Sirius standing in the doorway. Or rather, looking quite flustered and once the inconvenience of formality was over, all three of them dove to the floor and ducked beneath the window of the door.

"Er..."

"We don't mean to intrude, but it would appear that you have a very strategically-placed compartment," Sirius said very formally, but somewhat losing effect since he was crouched on the ground at Harley's feet.

"There's a group of Slytherins a couple compartments down that he just dungbombed and we needed a place to hide," Remus translated, rolling his eyes. Harley and Zoe burst out laughing.

"Shut up! Look like you're talking to each other!" Sirius commanded. Harley and Zoe happily obliged.

"So, Harley," Zoe said quite loudly. "What do you think of that Sirius Black?"

"Absolute tosser," Harley replied promptly. "And that hair - ridiculous."

Sirius made an insulted sound, but with the footsteps and rush of cloaks, Remus smacked him to shut him up. A group of very disgruntled Slytherins stalked by, glancing into the compartment. Harley and Zoe began to mouth words to each other, as though carrying on a conversation. The four boys continued on.

"Idiots," Zoe said when she deemed it safe. "These compartments aren't even sound proof."

The Marauders laughed and the girls scoot over in their seats to make room for them. Sirius and Peter sat on Harley's side, while Remus opted to sit beside Zoe.

"Well, I haven't heard any shouting. We can only assume James is still alive," Remus pointed out pleasently.

"Now really, I think we should give Lily some credit," Harley said, rolling her eyes. "It took a lot for her to forgive James last year. I think she might actually be secretly pleased that he's Head Boy."

"Pleased?" Sirius repeated, raising an eyebrow, "I thought she did that in order to make Snape angry."

"No, she did that because she decided James was more mature. You guys stopped pulling pranks on people," Sirius and Remus exchanged a glance that Harley noticed, "Well, _excessively_. And I think she was tired of always arguing with him," she added thoughtfully.

"Merlin, does she fancy him now?" Peter asked, eying Auden warily from where he sat. Zoe noticed this and put her on the ground, leaning over to open the door. The cat quickly trotted out of the compartment to explore the rest of the train.

"I don't think she _loves_ him," Zoe said, "but he might actually have a chance this year."

"Really?" Sirius said happily. "That's brilliant! Now it won't just be blind attraction."

"They're going to end up together, just wait," Remus said with an impatient hand. "It's inevitable. It's basically been coming since first year."

"Maybe," Harley hummed. She and Zoe exchanged mischievous smiles before looking out the window at the country side rolling by.

* * *

><p>"Hey Lily!"<p>

James stood up, first clasping his hands behind his back, then in front of him, then simply letting them fall limply at his sides. Finding this to be awkward, too, he stuffed them in his pockets. Merlin he was nervous. He wasn't sure whether he should act friendly, formal, stoic, professional, mature, cold, or maybe a combination of all of them.

Lily just stood there, mouth agape.

"What?" she finally choked out. "What are you doing here? Where's Fabian? Or Remus?"

"Excuse me?" James said, looking at her, concerned, through his round glasses.

"This is the _Head Compartment_, Potter," Lily said, regaining her composure. James winced at his surname.

"But, ah, I do actually belong here, _Evans,_" he said with a trace of venom in his voice, pointing to his badge.

"No, you don't," Lily said stubbornly. "You aren't Head Boy. You play pranks, and bully younger students."

Hurt flashed into James's eyes, quickly replaced with anger, and Lily instantly felt guilty. She knew he hadn't pulled any pranks on any students (other than Slytherins, but she didn't know about those) since the beginning of last year. By Christmas they had stopped completely. Of course, he still caused mischief with the rest of the Marauders, but none of it was aimed towards specific students anymore.

"No, Evans, I don't," he said carefully, taking a step towards her. Lily stood her ground. "You know I don't. I left all that shit behind with fifth year," he reminded her of their fifth year, when Snape had called her a 'mudblood' in front of most of their year after they had finished their OWLs. It had also been the first time Lily had severely insulted James instead of the usual "No, Potter," whenever he asked her out. They'd both been humiliated that day, but it was when James finally realized he'd have to work harder to convince Lily that he was a good guy. Which he did, eventually. At the end of sixth year they'd made a shaky truce that led to an even shakier - dare she think it? - friendship.

Lily's defense broke. "All right, I'm sorry, James. But... Head Boy! Wow, that's... that's..."

"Insane? Irresponsible? Just plain stupid?" James grinned, repeating Peter's words.

Lily gave a small smile. "No. But... yeah."

"It's all right. I can't say that I don't agree. Dumbledore's gone round the bend."

"No, I'm sure he had a reason for appointing the position to you." _Somewhere. Deep down, in the land of insanity._ But she didn't say that.

James shook his head and rolled his eyes. "I never thought I'd see the day when _Lily Evans_ was trying to comfort poor ol' James Potter because he was just appointed Head Boy."

Lily's face hardened. "Oh shut up, I was trying to be nice."

"You're _always_ nice."

"You say it like it's a bad thing!"

"Don't you ever have fun?"

"Yes!"

"When?"

"I have fun all of the time with Marlene, Zoe, Alice, and Harley!"

"Have you ever snuck out of the castle?"

"It's against the rules."

James shook his head, as though disappointed. "You haven't _lived_."

Lily looked sour. "I have certainly _lived_. Just because I want to make sure I graduate doesn't mean I've never had fun."

James shrugged. "Whatever, Lily. Let's not fight on the first day back, it'd be a record for us. Is that all we need to do? Just meet and make sure we know who the other person is?"

Lily was tempted to continue arguing, but gave in. She checked her watch. "No, the Prefects should be coming in any minute."

James frowned. They had to talk to Prefects? Why?

At that moment, a large crowd of students arrived at their compartment. As they bustled in, Lily moved to sit next to James while they all situated themselves comfortably. Remus was there as the sole seventh year Prefect for Gryffindor, but grinned and sat on James's other side.

"Did she take it badly?" he asked him quietly.

James glanced over to Lily, who was directing the fifth year Ravenclaw boy to move over to make room. "Not too bad," he answered. Remus and grinned and pat him on the shoulder.

"All right, everyone, settle down," Lily commanded. "We're going to start the meeting now."

James watched her as she talked easily to the Prefects. She was in her element, outlining their basic duties for the year, her hands moving slightly as she talked, her eyes gleaming with pride. It was amazing that they were on the verge of an argument not two minutes before, and now they were both carrying on as though nothing had happened. It was definitely a large step away from the norm.

"What are you thinking about?" Remus whispered, noticing his far-off expression.

James smiled. "This is going to be a good year."

* * *

><p>About fifteen minutes after three-fourths of the Marauders joined Harley and Zoe in their compartment, Remus looked at his watch and suddenly cried out, "Crap! Guys, I got to go!" He leaped out of his seat, and flung open the sliding glass door to the compartment he, Zoe, Peter, Sirius, and Harley were sharing.<p>

"Say hello to the lovebirds for us!" Sirius called after him. He smirked when he saw Remus flash him a thumbs up.

"Where's he going?" Zoe asked curiously.

"Prefect meeting," Sirius answered, waving it off. "Mr. and Mrs. Head Students always conduct them or something. They'll be back in about fifteen minutes."

Zoe nodded absentmindedly, playing with the sleeve of her robes.

Sirius glanced around to everyone in the compartment. Peter was flipping through a wizard comic book, enthralled in whatever adventure the main hero was currently in. Zoe was twirling her wand idly between her fingers, listening intently as Harley told her some funny story about her little brother, her arms waving wildly. Sirius studied Harley while she talked. Her skin looked tanner than he remembered last seeing it, the freckles that used to be sprinkled over the tops of her cheeks and nose were gone, and her hair several inches longer. Overall, she looked very pretty, and Sirius found himself opening his mouth to make conversation as soon as she finished.

"So, what did you guys do over break?"

Zoe looked over to him. "We stayed here. My family came over, a huge reunion that lasted for about three weeks at our place," she said. "I swear, I'm never having children. By the end of it, if one more girl had asked me to french braid her hair, or one more boy asked me to turn a teacup into a frog, I was going to scream."

"You barely know how to _brush_ hair."

"I know!" Zoe exclaimed, raising her hands for emphasis. "I was bored one night and I braided my hair _once_ because Lily found that one spell in fifth year, remember? And even then it looked like shit. And then Emma sees it and goes 'WOW! Zoe, can you do that to my hair?' And I just helplessly look at her. Eventually I got better at that spell that would do it for me, but then _every_ night I'd get at least three coming up to me before they were put to bed, and at least five in the morning."

Harley laughed at the end of Zoe's rant. "I guess this was the magic side of your family?"

"Yeah."

"You had a three week reunion with with just _half _of your family?" Sirius asked incredulously.

Zoe nodded. "Mum's a pureblood, my great-great-grandpa had seven brothers and sisters, and his wife had five. My parents are the first in seven generations to have only one child. Ergo, _big_ family."

"Wow," Sirius said softly. "I'd _never_ be able to take that with my family."_ Except for Andromeda,_ he added to himself. She was really the only one who was decent, other than his Uncle Alphard. But he had died last year, leaving a large amount of inheritance to Sirius, he might add.

"But Sofie was there, too, so it wasn't so bad," Zoe mused.

"Sofie?"

"She's my cousin, she lives in France," Zoe explained.

"What about you, Pensky?" he added, looking at Harley.

"We went to the beach," she said simply. Ah, that explained the tan. It made her hair seem lighter-

"I can't help but point out that you left out a fairly important part of your holiday to Lily dear," Zoe interrupted Sirius's thoughts with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

"Oh?" Sirius asked. "What was so scandalous that you couldn't tell dear Lilykins?"

Harley rolled her eyes, but her cheeks turned a fairly dark shade of red. "I didn't think it was so important to blab it out to Lily when we saw her for the first time in months. I just saw him a couple times."

Who? Sirius couldn't help but wonder suspiciously.

"Who?"

Sirius looked up, astonished that his own thoughts had been spoken aloud. He saw Lily, James, and Remus in the door way.

"Oh, you guys are back!" he said joyfully. "I see James still has a head. Did things go well?"

"Excellent," James replied, winking. He took a seat next to Sirius while Remus and Lily sat on either side of Zoe.

"Who did you see, Harley?" Lily asked again.

"Oh, I saw Gideon and Fabian Prewett while in Kent. We went to the beach together a couple of times, that's all," Harley said nonchalantly, but her still-red cheeks said otherwise.

"A bit more of Gideon than Fabian, if you asked me..." Zoe sang innocently. Lily raised her eyebrows happily.

"_Really_?" she asked scandalously.

"Oh yes," Zoe said, nodding, completely ignoring Harley's flushed face, "from what Harley's told me they saw each other almost every day for the month they both spent down there."

Chuckles erupted from everyone in the compartment, including the Marauders. Harley hid her face in her hands, but a small smile was visible.

Sirius shrugged at the news. Oh well, it appeared she was taken. He ignored the odd sensation in his stomach. It was almost like - well, almost like _disappointment_. Hah! Sirius Black was never disappointed when it came to girls. He'll just find another potential bird. Marlene McKinnon was cute...

"So, how'd you guys spend _your_ summers?" Harley said, changing the subject quickly. Lily and Zoe exchanged smirks.

"Uneventful," Remus said. "I worked part time at Flourish and Blott's, went round the Potters to see Sirius and James, but that's about it."

The girls nodded. They all knew Sirius had run away from his home the summer before their sixth year and ended up living with James and his parents for the summers and holidays.

They spent the next couple hours exchanging summer tales of humor and woe. A particularly long story from James and Sirius involving a niffler, a broomstick, and a large bag of teacups successfully had the girls in hysterics.

Every so often James would glance at Lily, smiling to himself when he saw her laughing at whatever story someone was telling. She didn't talk directly to him, neither did he to her, but it still felt... nice. They were in the same space, particularly close to one another, and they were laughing. Their two groups had joined neatly. Not that Zoe and Harley hadn't gotten along with Remus, Peter, and Sirius just fine in the past, but it was obvious in the way that they didn't make a habit of doing so that they knew they weren't really... friends. Maybe this year could finally change that.

After more hours of mindless chatter and games of Exploding Snap to pass the time, Harley pointed out the window, the sky outside a dark shade of blue as the sun set below the horizon.

"Look, we've arrived!"

They all scrambled to look out the window, Hogwarts looming in the distance. They could see the tiny pinpricks of light that were the seemingly thousands of windows. Gryffindor Tower was visible, the second tallest other than the Astronomy Tower.

"We're home, guys!" James said happily, thumping Sirius on the back.

"Aww, that's cute. I feel like we should be in a theater, and then the words "James and Sirius: A Hogwarts Tale of the Marauding Duo" will appear over your foreheads, then lead into a romantic comedy of a young, boyhood friendship that leads into a mature, manly love."

"Shut up, Simmons."

"What's a theater?"

* * *

><p>The seven separated once they were off the train. Lily, Zoe, and Harley found a carriage with Marlene McKinnon and Alice Greene, the two girls they shared their dorm with, and the Marauders joined Frank Longbottom in the one just behind.<p>

The girls hugged and laughed, recounting their summers and talking away on their ride up to the castle.

"So, Alice," Harley said, "You and Frank still in love?"

Alice, the adorable little doll she was, blushed and grinned bashfully. "Yes. He came over at least once a week to have dinner. My parents love him!"

"You guys are the sweetest couple."

"And the only one that might actually make it through Graduation. Hogwarts Couples aren't exactly famous for withstanding the test of time."

"I don't know, Lils, I feel like you and James could give them a run for their money," Zoe said nonchalantly.

Alice and Marlene laughed, but Lily frowned. "Me and James have the same likelihood of dating as me and Sirius."

"Oh! Don't be so hard on our future, Lilyflower!"

The girls all turned around, seeing the boy's carriage quite literally right behind theirs. The air was still warm from the last bit of summer, so the carriages didn't have roofs, making it easy to communicate with a group of people from another carriage.

Sirius was the one to call out, and continued.

"How do you know that since James is backing off I wouldn't try for a bit of Lily Evans?" he called, grinning in a way that the girl's assumed was supposed to be flirtatious.

"Go to hell, Black!" Lily answered, turning away from him.

Everyone was laughing except for Lily and Sirius.

"You know what? I take it back," Lily said to Zoe, but purposefully raising her voice. "I'd rather date James than Sirius any day."

"Your words are like a knife in my heart, you know that?" Sirius said, covering his heart with his hands and dramatically falling backwards against James and Remus.

"Get off, you useless excuse for a wizard," Remus said, nudging Sirius while James, Peter and Frank laughed.

"Remus, why are you so mean? James! James, help me!" Sirius said dramatically, flailing around on the bottom of the carriage.

"Sorry, mate, you're on your own," James smirked.

"What a fucking good Head Boy _you're_ turning out to be!" Sirius huffed, getting off the floor and dusting himself off.

"I don't know, I think he's doing a fine job," Marlene called out, the girl's having watched the entire thing.

"I hate you all," Sirius said, jumping out of the carriage and landing easily on the ground. But the carriage went a few more feet and stopped, they'd arrived at the castle. "I'm going to quit school and become a monk, a life of solitude will heal my wounds that all of you have verbally inflicted onto me."

They all exited their carriages. Marlene took out a muggle camera that she had carried around since figuring out how to use it inside the Hogwarts boundaries, way back in third year. Lily and Alice made silly faces and she snapped a picture of it.

"You could never survive in a monastery, Sirius. There are no girls," Remus told Sirius matter-of-factly. Sirius stuck his tongue out, and Mar took a picture.

"You have to pay to get a picture of all of this," Sirius said, noticing the camera, gesturing to his body.

"You have to pay to get a picture of a small pasty englishman?" Lily asked.

"I am a sex god, Evans, there is nothing small about me."

"You're such a charmer," Harley said sarcastically.

"And he's in rare form. Come on, Pads, let's get some food in you so you stop talking," James said, leading the way into the castle. They all followed him, Alice holding hands with Frank; Zoe, Lily, and Harley were laughing and talking behind them, Remus, Sirius, and Peter trailing behind, and Marlene taking pictures of everything.

"Mar, you've had that camera for years and I don't think you've ever taken this many pictures," Zoe said, covering her face with her hands, but Harley came up behind her and separated them and smiled, Mar dutifully snapping the picture.

"I want to document our last year at Hogwarts, all right?" Mar shrugged and snapped a picture of Alice and Frank's backs while they were still holding hands. She stuffed all of the automatically-made photos into her pockets.

"But what are you going to do with all the pictures?" Frank asked, glancing behind him.

"I don't know. Make a big scrapbook or something."

"She's going to give up on it in a week," Zoe said.

"Always the optimist," Mar said. "Say cheese!"

* * *

><p>"Welcome to another year at Hogwarts!" Dumbledore said grandly. Sirius whimpered when the beginning of his speech meant the disappearing of the ice cream blocks, five-flavor puddings, and several kinds of pie. "I trust you all had satisfactory summer holidays, emptying your heads of any learning you had gained during the year. But now it's time to fill them again."<p>

Zoe groaned and plunked her head on the table. Alice poked her shoulder to see if she was still alive, Harley and Lily laughing behind their hands as Marlene snapped a picture.

"First years should know that the Forbidden Forest is off limits to students who are not escorted by a teacher. See your Head of House or Quidditch Captain for when Quidditch Trials will begin. Hogsmeade Weekends will be scheduled in advance, see the notice on your Common Room bulletin board for further details. Now!" Dumbleodre suddenly said loudly, noticing that several of the students started to murmur amongst themselves quietly, having heard these announcements several times. "This will hopefully be the last time I say this for a while, but I'd like to welcome our newest Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher: Professor Pamela Lynch."

He led the applause and almost everyone joined in halfheartedly. This would be the seventh year's seventh Defense Against the Darks Arts professor. They'd gotten used to the constant changing.

Professor Lynch was a young-looking woman, with blonde hair and brown eyes. She looked to be about five feet tall, and reminded Lily vaguely of her old nursery school teacher back in England.

"This woman is supposed to teach us how to fight dark magic?" Zoe muttered in her ear. Lily shrugged but looked doubtful. She and Zoe weren't the only ones, though. All of the students were exchanging looks with their friends and frowning.

"Good luck, Professor!" Dumbledore said cheerfully, seemingly oblivious to the muttering around the hall. Lynch smiled weakly and sat back down. "That concludes the start-of-term announcements. Off to bed!"

At once the hall was filled with the oh-so-lovely sound of hundreds of wooden stools scraping over a marble floor all at once as students tried to get out of the hall first.

The seventh year Gyrffindors walked in a clump, laughing loudly. Dorcas Meadows and Emmaline Vance of Ravenclaw came up and said 'hello' to Lily, Harley, Zoe, Marlene, and Alice, and separated when the Ravenclaws branched off to go to a different stair case.

"Harley!" A voice called when they were at the top of the first flight of stairs. The girl in question turned and broke into a smile.

"Hey Gid," she said, giving him a hug when he joined their party at the top of the stairs. "You seemed to have forgotten that the Hufflepuffs go downstairs to reach their common room."

"'Been spying on us, have you?" he said, grinning.

Harley turned red again. "No! Everyone knows that!"

"Right, yeah. I just wanted to say good night," Gideon said, grinning a little wider. Somewhere farther down the stairs they could hear someone calling out his name (presumably his brother).

"'Night," Harley returned.

Gideon waved to everyone else, James acknowledging it with a 'See ya, Prewett.'

Zoe looked at Harley in amusement.

"What?" she said defensively.

"Oh, nothing..."

"Harley's got a boyfriend, Harley's got a boyfriend," James chanted.

"Oh, real mature."

"You could fry an egg on your face."

"Thanks, Marlene."

"Can I be the flower girl at the wedding?"

"Not you too, Lily!"

"I'm the ring bearer!"

"Peter, I thought I could always count on you!"

"Sorry, but I would look simply smashing in a tuxedo."

The group burst out laughing at this proclamation.

"I think we can all agree that _I_ would look the best in a suit, seeing as I look the best in any environment," Sirius said.

"Padfoot, just shut up before you embarrass yourself," Remus advised.

"Moony, I think you always shoot me down like that because you're secretly attracted to me."

"That's it."

"And all you want to do is just shag me up and down this hallway."

"Most definitely."

"I'm sorry, Remus, but I'm afraid I'm just not into men. I'm most definitely heterosexual."

"Your words are like a knife in my heart."

"I know, but it's better to have loved and lost than to not have loved at all, eh?"

"You two are ridiculous," Alice said, rolling her eyes and popping a piece of Drooble's Best Blowing Gum into her mouth.

The rest of the group agreed and, yawning, walked into the Gryffindor Common Room.

"I don't want to walk all the way upstairs," Harley whined, collapsing on one of the love seats by the fire.

"Oh, come now Pensky. You can play quidditch in the pouring rain and freezing snow, but you can't walk up stairs?" Sirius taunted.

"Fuck off."

"Ooh, feisty."

"C'mon, Harley. Only a little bit longer than you can slip into your comatose sleep," Lily encouraged, putting an end to the conversation before Harley ended up hexing Sirius's ears off. She poked Harley's shoulder multiple times before he brunette finally got up and, with a final good-bye to the boys she led the pack up girls up the staircase on the left.

"'Night, boys," Zoe yawned, waving lazily. Alice kissed Frank lightly on the lips and ran after her. The boys disappeared up the right staircase and the common room was officially deserted, lit only by the central fireplace which crackled and popped merrily, sending a comforting glow over the entire room.

**A/N: Hello, my ****friend****s! Miss me? (; Because I missed you! :D  
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**I actually officially completed this chapter the same day I published Chapter 11 for _Lily's the Man__. _But since then I've edited it so much it's nothing like the original version. For example, there was about four thousand less words. o_O I've been planning this story for quite some time, obviously, and I really, really hope you guys like it so far. **

**One more chapter of set up before the real plot comes out to play, where the rest of the Cast is introduced. Don't give up on me until then!  
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**The sort of prequel to this is 'Are We Friends?', a little one-shot of Lily and James making an agreement in their sixth year. I didn't want to have Lily suddenly be like "I HATE YOU JAMES POTTER - OH MY GOD YOU'RE SO SEXY LET'S GO OUT!" Since it's quite confusing. I tried to make it as obvious as possible that Lily had gotten over claiming to hate James, but she's no where near admitting that she actually - gasp - _likes_ him!**

**Hope you like Harley and Zoe! ^_^ Hope you liked the whole thing, actually! XD**

**Oh, and by the way... remember the name (and character, though she isn't exactly introduced) 'Sofie'. She may come back later... in a sequel... (;**

****Tell me what you think! Too cliche? (yes) Interesting? (Hopefully?) Want to know what happens next? (You should! :D) Drop me a review! Constructive criticism is always a plus, keep that in mind!  
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**Until next time!**

**~Smile**

**P.S: There's a little companion blog to this, called 'Marlene's Scrapbook' that is just something to look at for a visual representation of the characters, since I kind of sort of really hate describing appearances for Main Characters. It has a couple pages worth of photos up, mostly just singles of the large Main Cast (all of them will probably be formally announced in chapter 3..ish.) Anyways, the link is 'marlenescrapbook(dot)tumblr(dot)com, with '.' replacing the '(dot)'s, obviously.  
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**P.P.S: The next chapter won't be nearly this long, trust me. This one just sort of... exploded. I didn't really want to split it up.  
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	2. Defensive Defects

**Chapter 2: Defensive Defects  
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"I hate everything there is to hate about mornings."

"That's cheerful."

"No, really. What's the point of them? It's early, you're always so bloody tired, and you still have to go to lessons. _What's the point?_"

"You're awfully pessimistic in the mornings."

Zoe jumped when she heard Remus's voice behind her. She, Harley, Alice, Marlene, and Lily all looked behind them and saw the Marauders standing there.

"What do you want?" Harley asked them, but not unkindly. It was just before eight o'clock, the girls were all eating their breakfast in the Great Hall. McGonagall had just come around, handing out their class lists, reminding them that first class started at eight-thirty, thus starting Zoe on her early morning speech.

"We all got our timetables, 'thought we'd come by and see what classes we got together," Peter spoke up.

Zoe took Remus's and compared them.

"Defense, Potions, Charms, Herbology, and Transfiguration are all the same-"

"I'm not taking Potions again," Peter spoke up, shuddering slightly.

"Why not?"

"Don't you remember what happened last year?"

"With the boils?"

"Yeah!"

"Oh, Peter, I'm sure that'll never happen again-"

"I'm not taking any chances!" Peter said stubbornly. Last year, he had spilled an entire cauldron of a less-than-satisfactory Blemish Blitzer all down his front. Instead of curing acne, as it was supposed to, Peter had accidentally switched an ingredient and it cause huge boils to bubble across his chest, arms, and stomach. They had been particularly painful and difficult to remove, and Peter spent a couple of days in the Hospital Wing.

"Well, it's your choice I suppose," Zoe said uncomfortably, then got back onto the more comfortable topic. "None of us are taking History of Magic, obviously. Like anyone would continue with it after fifth yea-"

"Like anyone _could_ continue. Did anyone actually pass?" Sirius interrupted.

"I did," Lily answered, looking rather offended.

"Well, you're top of the class, Miss Head Girl," Harley reminded her.

"I didn't pass," James supplied, and Lily shot him a grateful smile, but then frowned, as though unused to such action. Alice and Marlene noticed this and exchanged amused glances.

"McGonagall after breakfast, then Harley and I've got Divination," Zoe said, looking at everyone else.

"Cool! Me too," Sirius said, inspecting his own.

"Why in Merlin's name are you three continuing on with Divination?" James asked, grimacing slightly. He'd taken it with Sirius in third year, but promptly dropped it the next.

"Because Dumbledore wants to discontinue the class," Harley said with a mischievous smirk. "We haven't had a normal teacher since fourth year, a different sub every couple of weeks. Last year there was an announcement that if he couldn't find a 'suitable teacher' the class would just be canceled."

"Old Ambrosius Flume, the owner of Honeydukes, once came in for a day when a shipment order went wrong. Handed out a bag of candy for each of us!" Sirius reminisced contently. He, Harley, and Zoe all sighed happily at the fond memory.

"It's basically like having a free period except we get class credit and an extra O.W.L for it."

The rest looked at them, stunned.

"But how do you pass your exams?" Lily asked.

"You fake it," Sirius said, shrugging. "It says right in our textbook, everyone interprets Divination differently. There really is no right answer to the questions, since most of them are essay, and for the practical all you really have to do is sound confident enough in what you're saying."

"I want to be in Divination!" Marlene protested.

"Too bad. You only have one elective anyways, so you have a free period," Harley said, pointing to her timetable.

"Well, Remus, Alice, and I have _real_ classes," Lily said, sticking her tongue out at Zoe. "Arithmancy?" She asked the two of them, and they nodded.

"And that leaves Me, James, and Peter being total slackers and having a free," Marlene said, now not so upset about not having Divination.

"Where's Frank?" James suddenly asked. "I thought he'd be down for breakfast by now." They all looked at Alice.

She noticed this and rolled her eyes. "It's not like I've got a tracker on him or anything!"

"Yeah, but you normally know where he is anyways," Zoe pointed out.

Alice looked like she was going to fight the urge, but then said, "His Astronomy class met early this morning. Sinistra wanted to see if they could map the constellations just before sunrise, I suspect he's still sleeping."

They all winced. "Urgh, four AM Astronomy on the first night?" Sirius asked.

The bell rang loudly, drowning all of the chatter in the Great Hall out, and the two groups walked towards the Transfiguration room, which was conveniently on the first floor.

"I hope we get to choose our own seats this year," Harley said hopefully. Last year she'd been stuck next to Snape, but they didn't even have Transfiguration with the Slytherins, so there was no way _that_ was ever going to have to happen again.

"Knowing McGonagall, definitely not," Sirius promised.

* * *

><p>He was wrong.<p>

"I trust you all to make wise decisions," McGonagall said loudly over the ruckus of everyone trying to get to their best friend. "I realize you aren't first years anymore..." She looked slightly nostalgic at that thought.

The class was made of Ravenclaws and Gryffindors. The Marauders and Frank (who caught up with them just as they entered the room) sat comfortably in the back row of tables, then the girls in front of them. Dorcas Meadows, Emmaline Vance, Benjy Fenwick, and Caradoc Dearborn took the next row up and finally the rest of the class seated themselves as well.

"Now really, your own seats should not give you this much joy," McGonagall said acidly. Everyone grinned guiltily and she rolled her eyes. "As seventh years, you will all be taking your NEWTs at the end of this year. While I'm proud so many of you have made it to this level, I do have to remind you that the course load will be worse than you've ever had it be." She looked around at everyone, as though daring anyone to protest. No one made a sound. "This is the beginning of the end. You will graduate, leave Hogwarts, start your own lives. There are dark forces out in the real world, forces I'm sure you've heard about."

Voldemort. No one said anything, but they were all thinking it. Over the last few years there were more deaths, more tortures, more kidnappings, all done by Death Eaters under order of their leader, Lord Voldemort. It was no secret. Even in Hogwarts, some students obviously support them and what they're doing. Mary MacDonald, a Gryffindor a year below them, was cursed by a Slytherin when she was in Fourth Year.

Suddenly it seemed like the room dropped a few degrees. There was no hint of the laughter that had previously filled the room from the simple joy of sitting next to their friends.

They were mostly safe, in Hogwarts. Out there there was little to no protection but their own wits. Just thinking it made a shiver go down their spines.

McGonagall looked at the class. "I didn't mean to ruin your first day back, but you need to know. Now!" she suddenly barked, making Harley jump, causing Zoe to snicker quietly, "on to the lesson. Everyone take out your books, turn to page thirty-nine, and copy down paragraph four."

There was a mad rush as everyone bent down to get quills and rolls of parchment out of their bags, and a low murmur of discussion. Zoe glanced behind her and caught Remus's eye, giving him a reassuring smile.

* * *

><p>"My hand hurts," Harley complained as she, Zoe, and Sirius made their way up the many flights of stairs to the Divination tower. "We took more notes in that one lesson than we did in all six years."<p>

"Aww, poor baby," Zoe pouted. Harley shoved her with her shoulder, but Zoe started to laugh and apologized.

Sirius trailed after them by a couple of feet, feeling very awkward indeed. He felt rather alone next to the two girls who had been best friends since... well, a while. He wondered if Frank ever felt this way when he hung out with the Marauders.

"What, do you think, Sirius?" Harley asked, bringing him into the conversation.

"What?"

"You-Know-Who. Death Eater activity's been down, what do you suppose he's doing?" Harley prompted.

How the hell did they get there in the span of less than a minute?

Girls.

"Activity that they decide to put in the_ Daily Prophet_," Sirius pointed out. "The Ministry could be hushing some things up."

"Why?" Zoe asked, alarmed.

Sirius shrugged. "Why not? Less panic. Everyone knows he's out there, not everyone needs to know just how terrifying he really is."

Harley and Zoe exchanged glances.

"So that means Death Eaters could have made some attacks and we never heard about it?" Zoe asked.

Sirius nodded, and opened his mouth to say something, but Harley interrupted him.

"But isn't the Ministry fighting back?"

"Of course," Zoe answered her, "you hear about _that_ in the news everyday-"

"But you don't hear about us gaining any sort of advantage," Sirius pointed out.

They fell silent after this, mulling over these thoughts. They finally made it to the top of the winding staircase where the rope ladder was already waiting for them.

* * *

><p>"I have no idea what the hell I'm doing," Harley hissed quietly, directing it at Zoe and Sirius, who were sitting across from her on the round table. They were all staring intently at a crystal ball perched in the center of their table. "I was planning on starting my Transfiguration essay!" McGonagall had already assigned a two-foot essay (which she claimed would be light compared to the end of the year) on self-transfiguration, which was apparently review.<p>

This year, it seemed Dumbledore had found a permanent sub. Some sort of Ministry wizard, 'Professor' Crewe was taking over the class. He started off the class with a lecture on advanced Divination, then placed the Crystal Balls on the tables and set them on a short essay ("Oh, approximately a foot and a half, I should say") about what they see, who it might immediately affect, how they might react to it, and how it will affect everyone around said person in every way he might react. They were to hand it in at the end of the lesson for a grade.

The class was distraught. No one had done any 'proper' Divination in a good three years.

"Git," Sirius muttered darkly. Professor Crewe was prompting poor Hestia Jones at the table next to them to tell him what she saw. Dedalus Diggle and Dorcas, who were sharing the table with Hestia, were glaring at Crewe, but he didn't notice.

"Forget this, I'm making it up," Harley gave up, taking out a long piece of parchment and writing utensils. "Zoe, I see you chasing after... a rabbit. In a forest. In England. Yeah."

"Ah, yes," Zoe said wisely, nodding in agreement. "I see the echos of your Vision. However, I see... Lily eating cake on her birthday."

"Wow, it takes a real Seer to figure _that_ one out," Sirius said, rolling his eyes. Harley laughed but Zoe stuck her tongue out at him.

"How are we getting along here?" Crewe suddenly said, coming to attack their table after successfully demolishing the one beside them.

"Oh - er - fine," Zoe said, subtly laying her arm next to her empty parchment so it was hidden from view. Harley took notice and draped her hair over her shoulder, hiding her 'essay', leaving Sirius alone to fend for himself.

"Mr. Black, your parchment is empty," Crewe pointed out unhelpfully. "We have fifteen minutes of class time left, I suggest you get a move on." He left them, and Harley and Zoe chuckled quietly.

"Oh, shut up," Sirius said.

* * *

><p>"I swear to God, if we have Potions with the Slytherins..." Zoe said. She prodded Harley in the back. "Go check, warn me so I don't explode."<p>

Harley rolled her eyes but looked in the doorway, then smiled. "It's ok! It's with the Hufflepuffs!"

"Ooh, _someone_ sounds happy to be working with Hufflepuffs," Lily said, catching up with them as they made their way to the side of the room, waiting for Professor Slughorn.

Harley turned red. "I wasn't - I was just glad it wasn't with Slytherins, that's all!"

"Sure, sure. Then why is one of them waving to you?"

Harley looked across the room and saw Gideon indeed waving to her. She smiled and waved back. He winked and replied to something Fabien had said to him.

"Young love," Zoe teased, batting her eyelashes.

"I do _not_ fancy him."

"I was merely commenting on the brotherly love Fabien and Gideon share. Who says I was talking about you? Guilty conscience?"

Lily laughed when Harley turned and started talking very forcefully with Alice, Marlene, and Hestia.

"You're so mean to her," Lily commented to Zoe.

Zoe simply smiled, because at that moment Slughorn came into the room. His strawberry-blonde hair was neatly combed and parted to the side, his mustache a little longer than when they had seen it the year before. His belly seemed to be getting larger with each passing year. When they were eleven, he was simply pudgy. Now his stomach threatens to enter rooms before the rest of him.

"Welcome, welcome! My favorite class, back again for another year!" Professor Slughorn said happily, waving energetically at them all.

"Oh, Professor, stop it," Sirius said, pretending to blush.

"You probably say that to _all _ of your Potions classes," James played along.

Slughorn chuckled but didn't respond to them. He took out a piece of parchment and started reading off it, pointing to different seats as he spoke.

"Black, Miss Evans," he gestured to the table in front. "Diggle, Miss Greene." Dedalus and Alice took the table beside them. Hestia and Frank took the table behind them. Harley and James took the seats behind Sirius and Lily (much to their happiness). Fabien and Gideon sat behind them. Remus, Zoe and Marlene (there was an odd number of students since Peter dropped) took the table behind Hestia and Frank.

"Excellent!" Slughorn said, making the parchment disappear with a tap from his wand, "let's get cracking. This year, class, will be difficult. Normally we study potions that simply need a class period or two to brew, but as it is your final NEWT year, I trust you all to be capable of taking on much more advanced brews." He looked impressively around at the class. Most of the students straightened their backs or raised their eyebrows in suspicion. Usually, when Slughorn was this dramatic is meant something good. "This year will consist of many projects that could potentially span weeks. Your NEWT examination will consist of a sampling of Polyjuice Potion (with the antidote on hand, of course), which you will have created. We will begin brewing them exactly one month before the exam is scheduled. In the past my seventh years have created potions such as Amortentia, Felix Felicis, and even attempts at their own recipes. These are highly dangerous potions when put in the wrong hands, so I trust each and everyone one of you to be respectful of the rules of this classroom.

"Excellent. Let's begin! Turn to page forty-nine in your textbooks and work with your partner to create an antidote for Poison number three. Samples of the poison are on my desk. The fasted pair to get it right receives twenty points for their house!"

Lily immediately leaped out of her seat and went to Slughorn's desk while he sat down in his seat. James and Harley exchanged an amused glance. Harley followed Lily and took a sample back to her and James's desk. Both pairs immediately started working.

At the back of the room, Remus was lighting the flame underneath his cauldron. Zoe and Marlene were looking at the poison.

"Do either of you remember so much as how to brew the antidote for hiccups?" Marlene asked dramatically, shaking the vial slightly.

Zoe and Remus rolled their eyes.

"Go get a bezoar, Mar," Zoe suggested, "I think we have to slice it up and put it in the poison and then boil it or something."

"You just leave it at a simmer until the bezoar totally disintegrates," Remus corrected.

Marlene shrugged. "I have no idea how I'm in NEWT potions," she commented drily before getting up to retrieve the stone from Slughorn's stores.

"Because you're smart, but just don't want to admit it?" Zoe asked innocently.

Marlene paused and thought for a moment, biting the inside of her cheek. "That could be it."

Zoe laughed when Marlene walked away and Remus chuckled.

"You swear she's actually intelligent?"

"Oh yeah, Mar's a genius. She just chooses to use her brain for less-than-admirable reasons."

"Such as...?"

"Remember in third year, when someone turned yours, James's, Sirius's, and Peter's hair neon green for two weeks?"

"Merlin, that was Marlene? Why?"

"She got caught in the cross fire between James and Snape. The boil on her nose didn't disappear for a week."

"Wo-"

"What'cha talkin' 'bout?" Marlene said in a funny little accent, setting a couple bezoars down on their table.

"Nothing," Zoe and Remus chorused, immediately looking down and began slicing the stones, looking up only once to smirk guiltily at each other, then went back to work.

* * *

><p>"I can't believe Slughorn put Fabien and Gideon next to each other. They'll be kicking our asses all year," James said, reaching up to loosen his tie a bit. It was after Potions now, and he, Sirius, Remus and Frank had met back up with Peter to walk to lunch together.<p>

"Lily and Sirius did almost as well," Remus defended them.

"I think Evan's just showed off her cleavage a bit to Slughorn to get a couple more points," Sirius said.

"Hey, don't talk about her like that-"

"It was a joke, Prongs, relax," Sirius said, ruffling James's hair. "Besides, it's not like you'd be able to _see_ anything in these bloody robes."

"Has your head taken permanent residence in the gutter, Black, or are you simply holding a long-term lease?"

The Marauders whipped around saw the girls walking a few paces behind. It would appear that they took the same route to the Defense classroom.

"My head is too gorgeous to stick in a gutter, Simmons," Sirius replied, flicking his hair dramatically.

"Tosser."

"Play nice, you two," Harley said lazily, flicking Zoe's ear.

While Harley supervised their immature friends, James slowed down until he was walking beside Lily.

"How are you doing so far, Evans?" he asked politely.

"What's with the 'Evans' I thought we were on a first name basis now," she replied without looking at him.

"Ooh, so you _want_ me to? Do you miss the way it just _rolls_ of my tongue?"

Lily's eyes went wide and a great flush went across her cheeks.

"Don't think for a moment that I waste space in my mind thinking about your tongue!"

"It's all right to admit it, I'm pretty dashing."

"You are _such _an arrogant - why are you laughing?" Lily asked angrily as James chuckled beside her.

"Relax, Lily, I was just kidding. Jeez, it almost seems like you think I _fancy_ you or something."

Lily frowned in confusion. What a strange statement to come out of James's mouth. She couldn't very well call him a liar, because then she looked vain, but _everyone _knew James Potter fancied Lily Evans. Probably even the first years by now. Confusing git.

Still laughing lightly, James pat her head like a child and walked a little faster to catch up with Sirius, who was now talking to Harley.

Lily let out a "hmph!" loud enough for him to hear and went to walk beside Zoe, who was trying her hardest not to look amused. She was failing rather miserably.

They arrived at the Great Hall and they all fell into a sort of silence as they ate their lunches. Next, they had Defense Against the Dark Arts. Last night, most of the students did not have high expectations for the new professor, Professor Lynch. They were all anxious to see if they would be disappointed or pleased.

As soon as the bell rang they made their way to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom and were depressed at the fact that they would be having the class with Slytherins.

"You've got to be kidding me," Zoe muttered. The Slytherins were already sitting on one side of the room, a large aisle separated the two groups of desks. The Gryffindors walked to the left side and spread themselves out in the desks there. No one spoke much. A couple of times Harley and Zoe saw Snape glance over at Lily, but Zoe gave him a silent, withering glare until he stopped and looked resolutely up to the front of the room. The bell rang for the start of class, and Professor Lynch walked in.

She was wearing simple purple robes, her hair braided and thrown casually over her shoulder. She had the strangest motherly-type aura that very obviously didn't belong in a Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.

"Hello, students," she said. Her voice was soft, but it carried across the deadly silent room easily. Harley looked around and saw that everyone was staring straight at Lynch, almost like they were all holding their breath with anticipation. This new professor had not made a very good first impression. It seemed like the Gryffindors were waiting for her to redeem herself and be an amazing duelist or something, while the Slytherins wanted nothing more than for her to be exactly what everyone was thinking she was.

"I'm your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. This year, as it is your NEWT year, and you will be taking very important exams, it's very important that you learn everything that will be on your test."

_All right, this sounds like a good start_, Lily thought to herself.

"Pair up now, and we'll start with some review spells."

With a nearly audible sigh of relief (from half of them, anyways) the class stood up and partnered off quickly, spacing themselves out adequately. Lynch looked up from her desk once it became silent again, as though surprised they would listen and act so quickly and efficiently. She rose from her chair and picked up a piece of parchment that, from where Lily could see, had a list of spells written on it. She waved her wand and the desks vanished, giving the students much more room.

"We'll start with a few simple ones, just for warm up," Lynch said. "Take turns attempting to cast shield charms, while your opponant attempts to break it with a simple jinx. Only simple jinxes, we don't want any accidents. Carry on."

There was a short pause while everyone glanced at their partner. A few seconds later, though, Shelly Pierce, a blonde Slytherin girl, sent a jelly-legs jinx at her partner Samantha, whose shield charm failed miserably. The green-clad students followed her lead and started with their partners as well. Soon enough, the Gryffindors also sent their spells at each other.

Lily exchanged a look with Remus before he shrugged.

"Me first, I suppose," she said. She held her wand up, trying not to roll her eyes and show disrespect to Lynch. "_Obscuro!_"

Remus flicked his wand and the spell rebounded and hit the wall to the left of Lily. They looked at each other a little wearily, before Remus raised his wand in warning that he was about to go.

About seven minutes in, Zoe and Harley had grown tired of dodging the rebounded spells their shields would send back, and had started a game of shield-tennis. When one of them put up a shield, the spell would bounce off, and the other would quickly cast the shield as well. A few of the other groups noticed and started to do it as well. Sirius and James began to run around the entire room while playing it, making their aim rather horrible. James had to send a shield way up in the corner of the room so that Sirius's originally-cast "_Anteoculatia!_" (a spell to make one's hair turn into antlers, which Sirius thought was rather brilliant in relation to James) didn't break the window.

Finally, fifteen minutes in, Lynch called for them to stop.

"All right, very good. I see most of you are comfortable with the spell, but some of you are lacking a little," her eyes drifted to two of the Slytherins, the two girls who started the class off. "I think we can all benefit from helping one another and studying together, so that we all will be on the same skill level." She beamed at them, and the class returned with a collective weak smile (or a confused eyebrow raise).

"Right, so why don't we all take our seats once again and begin some theory work. Page ninety-three, if you will. Questions four through forty-four. Anything you don't finish will be completed for homework."

Immediately the room was filled with murmurs as students went over to their friends. Once the desks were back in place, they huddled over their books, 'working'. Lynch didn't look up. The Gryffindors ended up pulling desks and chairs into one large cluster.

"What the hell was all of that about?" Harley whispered to Marlene. The blonde shrugged and looked wearily over her shoulder at Lynch to make sure she wasn't listening.

"Well..." Alice trailed off, trying to find a way to defend the professor.

"Plenty of people don't know how to produce a shield charm," Peter pointed out shrugging.

"People who don't make it to NEWT level Defense Against the Dark Arts, that is," James said.

"Yeah, Worms, even _you _can make one - I'm kidding!" Sirius said quickly raising his palms innocently at Peter's death glare.

"I think James is right," Lily said. They all fell silent for a couple of seconds, shocked. "Oh honestly, all of you!" Lily said impatiently, ducking her head to look at her book, successfully covering her red face. James hid his small smile.

Harley looked around at the group. "Maybe it _was _just review. Hopefully within a day or two we'll start actually learning something."

"I wouldn't count on it," Zoe muttered.

"Great attitude," Harley said sarcastically.

"Maybe we should ask her?" Frank suggested patiently.

"I vote Lily," Marlene said automatically.

"Why me?" Lily asked, alarmed.

"Teachers like you the most," Remus said. They all nodded in agreement.

"I have no say in this?"

"Hey, you're Head Girl, Lils," Alice pointed out. "You're kind of the ambassador for all of the students"

Lily rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. Fine. I'll talk to her after class-" the bell rang.

They sent her somewhat-amused-smirks before they put the desks back in their proper place, leaving Lily behind in the classroom.

"See you back in the common room," Harley promised.

"I hate you."

"That's the spirit."

Finally her brown hair was out of sight and Lily walked calmly toward Lynch's desk.

"Yes, Miss Evans, what can I do for you?" Lynch asked politely. From this close up, Lily could see that she was very pretty. Her hair was thick and the color of honey, and she didn't have any wrinkles, not even laugh lines. Their professor didn't look a day over twenty-seven. Of course, you never really could tell with witches and wizards.

"I was just wondering..." Lily started, "how... _advanced_ the class would get. Since it is our NEWT year, and all, I'm just trying to gauge the workload now," she added hastily.

Lynch put her fingertips together. "Well, Lily, it was my intention to take you through the curriculum that will be covered on your exams at the end of the year. The practical can be difficult, and the theoretical strenuous. I want to make sure you're prepared."

"Yes, but after the tests-"

"You'll need the best marks in order to find a good career. What's the point of knowing flashy spells if they don't help you get a job?"

Lily faltered. "Well, for our own protection-"

Lynch interrupted her again. "Miss Evans, do you want to be an Auror?" she asked bluntly.

"Maybe. I haven't decided yet."

"Well, let's just assume for the time being you do. The Auror Academy is very difficult to get into. You have to practically be the top flakes on the upper crust of the test results. And then, then they can teach you everything you need to defend yourself. I understand that You-Know-Who is out there, Lily, I do. But I want my students to have a future."

Lily opened and closed her mouth several times. It suddenly felt like it would be very rude to press the subject, as it would seem Lynch had just closed it. She just nodded and started to walk away.

"Lily?"

"Yes, professor?

"Though it may seem frustrating for you, I daresay you and your friends might be able to configure some sort of... _study group_ in order to stay ahead. Do you understand?"

Lily glanced back at Lynch and saw a ghost of a smile there. Lily nodded again, and smiled politely, then let herself out the door. It was only when she mounted the staircase that she realized Lynch may have just answered the question she didn't even ask.

**A/N: Because I'm awesome. **

**Totally kidding. But quick update, no? Only a couple hours off. **

**But to be totally sirius, I'm trying to get these chapters out of the way as quickly as I possibly can. Introductory chapters suck. The next one, I'm hoping, at least, will be better, and chapter 4 is when everything is going to get put into motion. **

**But this is all subject to change, of course, because I'm just difficult. (:**

**I hope you liked the chapter though, or didn't regret wasting the time to read it. ^_^; **

**I hope everyone is having a lovely Holiday season. Tomorrow is New Year's Eve! Woah o_O**

**Until Next Time!**

**~Smile  
><strong>


	3. Secret Societies

**Chapter 3: Secret Societies  
><strong>

"Well, what did she say?"

Lily stepped into the Common Room and her eyes landed immediately on Zoe, Remus, Peter, Frank and Alice sitting at a couple of the tables, long pieces of parchment unfurled in front of them.

"Where's everyone else?" Lily asked curiously, completely ignoring Zoe's question.

"James brilliantly decided to have Quidditch Trials the Saturday after next. They all went down to the pitch to practice a little bit," Remus replied. "A few hopefuls went and followed them down."

"And by 'hopefuls' he means 'First years with no chance in hell of making it'," Zoe clarified. "Though I expect a couple of the girls just wanted to see sweaty versions of James and Sirius on broomsticks."

They laughed, and Lily smiled weakly, suddenly looking for an excuse to go down the Quidditch Pitch... to support Harley and Marlene, that is. Obviously. Suppressing the urge, she took the seat next to Zoe and saw that they were all working on their Transfiguration homework.

"Wow, who twisted your arms to get you started on this?"

"Me," Remus answered. He scanned his first paragraph and scratched out a word near the bottom.

"Remus is a dictator, he forced us to start our homework," Peter said. He was writing very large.

"And he also promised us chocolate if we started working," Alice said, winking at Lily.

"As _interesting_ as this conversation is, what did Lynch say, Lily?" Zoe asked, looking at the redhead imploringly.

"Not much," Lily said carefully. "She said that she wants us to get as good a grade on our exams as we can, and the only way to do that is by covering the material on the test."

"Doesn't she _make_ the test?"

"No, it's standardized," Remus said. "All of the magical schools get the same NEWTs, because a lot of the time jobs require you to go to different countries."

"Makes sense, I suppose," Lily said, raising an eyebrow. "But anyways, she said even if we wanted to be an Auror or something, the best way is to get a good grade and be accepted into the program."

Zoe looked doubtful. "But it's the _Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests_. We shouldn't be going over shield charms, and if you don't know how to make one, you shouldn't be in the class!"

"I know, Zo," Lily said impatiently. "I already told her all that. She wouldn't budge."

Lily didn't tell them about the idea Lynch had planted in her head. She wasn't even sure if she had meant to do it, or if she _was_ simply suggesting she and her friends literally just make a 'study group'. There was something about the blonde professor that made Lily wary. She starts out so timid and somewhat ignorant, but then when Lily talked to her she seemed almost sneaky. It confused her.

The seventh years didn't press the subject any more. Zoe let her have a roll of parchment and they all worked on their essays in silence. But Lily couldn't focus.

* * *

><p>The Seventh Years at Hogwarts soon learned exactly why their exams are described as 'Nastily Exhausting'.<p>

"I swear to God, I'm going to explode," Marlene grumbled, raking her hands through her hair almost maniacally.

"It's Saturday, aren't we supposed to be procrastinating?" came the voice of Alice, though it was slightly muffled since her forehead was pressed firmly to the wood of the Library desk, and her arms were covering her head as though she was expecting parts of the ceiling to come crumbling down.

"Homework is a bitch," Harley agreed.

"'Hell hath no fury like an essay scorned," Zoe deadpanned.

Alice rested her chin on her arms, looking up at Zoe. "That doesn't even make sense."

"So?"

"Liiiiillllllyyyy..." Harley said, looking imploringly up at Lily. "Can we take a break?"

"Would it make a difference what my answer is?"

"No.. not really. But come _on! _We've been doing homework for a majority of the time we've been at school!"

Lily sighed and attempted to give Harley a 'You-know-it's-good-for-you' type of glare, but she eventually gave in and shoved her essay away from her. Harley and Marlene high-fived in victory and capped their ink pots.

"I feel like we've been here for hours."

"No wonder," Harley said. "We came here at the crack of bloody dawn-"

"It was nine o'clock, Har, not _dawn_-"

"Wait, what time is it now?" Lily interrupted Zoe.

"Ten-oh-eight. Why - Where are you going, Lils?"

"I'm late!"

She rushed out and the four girls exchanged confused looks.

"Well, I sure hope she isn't hinting that she's pregnant. That would just be awkward," Zoe said.

"I vote going out to the lake!" Marlene said, leaping out of her seat.

"Agreed!"

* * *

><p>Lily practically sprinted up the seven flights of stairs. What sick, twisted architect put the Library on the first floor and the Head Room on the seventh? It just wasn't right.<p>

Actually, what sick, twisted person scheduled a meeting with the Head Boy and Girl on a Saturday at such a (relatively) early hour as ten o'clock?

Oh.

That's right.

Lily did.

She clutched the stitch in her side, deciding then and there that she would start running every morning... or every other morning... or maybe on the weekends...

She'd get Zoe to do it with her.

Finally, huffing and puffing and red in the face (such a lovely clash with her hair), she thrust open the door of the Head Room so ferociously that it bounced off the wall and she had to stick out an arm to keep it from smacking her in the face.

Such was the cool, calm, collected Head Girl.

"I'm so sorry for being late- Professor Dumbledore!"

Dumbledore and James were sitting at a square table littered with stacks of parchment. Between them was a chess set. The only emotion Lily felt other than embarrassment was amusement, mostly because Dumbledore was soundly kicking James's arse.

"Thank you for joining us, Miss Evans," Dumbledore said, but not unkindly. He waved his wand and the chess set disappeared.

"I'm so sorry, Professor," she gushed, "I was in the Library, I didn't know you'd be here-"

Dumbledore silenced her with a raise of his hand, smiling slightly. "It happens to the best of us."

"Yes - well," Lily stammered. "Right." She took her seat next to James awkwardly. He looked over at her and gave her a small smile which she found very reassuring.

How odd.

Dumbledore cleared his throat lightly and Lily broke eye contact with James. They both looked ahead and attempted to look professional. Their long-bearded Headmaster looked at them through his half-moon spectacles.

"I assure you, I won't interrupt every meeting you have," he said. "I just came to officially welcome you into your positions. Though you may have doubts about my choice," was it Lily's imagination, or did Dumbledore look at James rather seriously just then? "I think you two will work well with one another."

"Er - thank you, Professor," Lily said almost uncertainly.

"I felt a strong leadership was necessary, and you two are two of the top students, and very influential over the younger students."

"I'm sorry to interrupt, sir, but why do you need a strong leadership?" Lily asked.

"I'm sure you're quite tired of hearing this repeated, but dark forces are at work outside of the Hogwarts's walls." Lily and James both nodded. "I... feel there will be times when the student body needs a strong foundation, people to look up to for support. We are safe in here, but not enough to withstand the horrors going on outside. Lord Voldemort is rising. People are dying. "

Lily was shocked by how blunt and almost harsh Dumbledore sounded then. "Of course, sir. We'll do our best."

James simply nodded but didn't comment.

Dumbledore nodded, his electric blue eyes boring into each of them. "I also have another matter to discuss with you."

Lily unconsciously sat up a little straighter, curious.

"There is a secret organization, here in Britain, called the Order of the Phoenix."

"Oh. Right. Er... what exactly does the Order of the Phoenix do?"

"Well, Miss Evans, to put it bluntly, they are fighting."

"Fighting... V-Voldemort."

"Precisely."

"And why is this organization secret?"

"They do not want Voldemort and the Death Eaters to know who they are fighting. They know exactly where to find the Aurors in the Ministry of Magic. It's simple to find a list of current Aurors, Obliviators, and even Unspeakables. But there is no official list of the roster of the Order of the Phoenix."

"I.. I see. If it's so secret, how do you know so much about it?"

"I founded the Order, Miss Evans."

"Oh," Lily said, not exactly surprised. It made sense. Most powerful wizard of the age creates the secret organization to fight Voldemort. Sure, why not? "Why are you telling this to us, Professor?"

Dumbledore gave them another small smile. "I'm telling you this because, after you have graduated, I'd like to invite you to join."

A great bubble of pride swelled in Lily's chest, and she found herself smiling for absolutely no reason, though she tried to relax her cheeks and suppress it.

"I understand it's a large decision to make," Dumbledore concluded. He stood up and walked to the door. "When you make your decision, you can come directly to me. It's not a life-commitment." With that, he left the room, leaving James and Lily sitting quietly at the table. It was then that Lily realized he hadn't spoken a single word yet.

"You didn't seem too surprised when he told us all of that," Lily said to James.

He shrugged. "My parents are both in the Order."

Lily's eyebrows rose in surprise. "Really?"

"Well, they're kind of... old," James said uncertainly, not looking at her. Lily rolled her eyes. "No, really," James said seriously. "Even for wizarding standards. They're retired, but the both do undercover work for the Order. Research. Pull some strings if need be. Occasionally a meeting place in a pinch."

Halfway through the speech Lily began looking for the arrogant tone, but it wasn't there. James actually sounded... proud.

"That's amazing," Lily said softly.

James ruffled his hair embarrassingly. "'Not really. The Order was only created a few years ago."

Lily nodded. Silence fell between them.

"Well, I suppose we should get started on all of this," she said briskly, gesturing to the piles of parchment. James nodded, eying the parchments warily.

He picked up the top one on the pile nearest him.

"Oh! Scheduling for Quidditch practice. I think I'll take this one-"

"Absolutely not," Lily said, snatching it out of his hands.

"Oy!"

"You'll somehow rig it so Slytherin never gets the field-"

"What's wrong with that?"

"It's not fair!"

"But you'd be biased as well!"

"How so?"

"I seem to recall you cheering rather loudly last year during the Championship game. Your red face matched your hair rather nicely."

"I painted it for the game."

"Oh, of course. That was why. Then what's your excuse for the coloring after I kissed you at the party?"

"It was on the _cheek_. It hardly counts as a kiss. And I wasn't blushing!"

"I think you were."

"Twat."

"Ooh, getting defensive."

"Just... pick something else from the pile."

"Fine, fine, I won't schedule Quidditch. Do you mind?"

Lily had looked up at him and saw him holding up a cigarette. "No. Smoking kills, though."

"Not if you're a wizard and can use magic to keep your lungs squeaky clean," he replied cheekily, taking a long drag, then blowing out, releasing a large cloud of smoke.

Lily rolled her eyes and fanned the air in front of her face. "You can do the patrols schedule."

"Ooh, fun."

"All right, what is your problem?" she finally asked impatiently. "I mean, I know you're normally irritating but it's a bit on the aggravating side today."

"I'm sorry if I'm not over the moon about having to work on one of my only days off from school," James said, not looking up from his parchment.

"It's not that bad."

"Not everyone is perfect like you, Lily."

Lily paused, swallowing the insult that was about to come out of her mouth. "What?"

"I said," James said slowly, looking up to meet her eyes, "not everyone is perfect and can somehow find scheduling things fun. Not everyone's cut out to be Head Boy."

Lily sagged a little in her chair. "Did you ask Dumbledore to resign from your position?"

"Yes," James replied.

Well.

At least he didn't beat around the bush.

"Why?"

"It's not as if you don't know! I'm not cut out for this. I'm not supposed to be here. Remus is. Or Fabian. Or Zac from Ravenclaw or even that idiot, Charles, in Slytherin."

"You seemed all right on the train!"

"That's before Dumbledore came in here spewing all that shit about being a 'strong foundation' for the school. He gave me the same speech when I went and talked to him."

"I thought you'd be pleased," Lily said a little bitterly, "with all this power. You can put people in detention and dock points. I thought you'd be running around the school right now docking points from the people who breathed the same air as you. That's what you would have done in fifth year, anyways."

James looked at her wearily. "Are you _ever_ going to let that go? I thought you were supposed to be nice."

"I am nice."

"Not to me."

"I'm nice to the people who deserve it."

"Your words cut me like a knife."

"Could you be serious for just this one minute?"

"I don't think so, it takes at least a month for Polyjuice to brew. And then I'd need to convince Sirius to give me some of his hair, and you know how girly he can be when it comes to his hair."

Lily stared at him for a few seconds before she realized what he was talking about. She groaned and put her head in her hands. "I'm working with a baboon."

"Oh, come on, you know I didn't mean it."

"James Potter," Lily said, suddenly very serious. She looked him straight in the eye. "I bet you could be a _great _Head Boy. The best one Hogwarts has ever seen. You're intelligent, a good leader, and you know all of the rules of the school since you've broken each of them at least twice." _'And incredibly handsome.'_

...Holy Merlin, did she really just think that?

Someone book her a room in St. Mungo's.

"And for the first time you decide to be modest, it's about_ the one thing that would actually look good on a job resumѐ_?"

"Well, being Quidditch Captain doesn't necessarily hurt-"

"ARGH!" Lily leaped forward in her seat and grasped his shoulders, shaking him roughly as though attempting to shake some sense into him.

"_Bloody hell, woman, I was joking!_" James yelled, the cigarette falling out of his mouth and onto the floor.

Lily stopped shaking him and he quickly stomped out the cigarette.

"Oh," she said. "About all of it?" she asked, suddenly suspicious that he was trying to make her feel bad for him.

"Er - yes?"

"Liar."

"All right, all right. Now I'm just trying to desperately hold my dignity together."

"'Don't want everyone to know you're really full of girl-like insecurities?"

"That's it."

"Your secret's safe with me," Lily promised.

"Thanks," James grinned.

A short silence fell between them, and for a moment she smiled back and felt a weird feeling in her stomach, like birds were trying to learn the can-can in there.

"You really think I could be a great Head Boy?" he asked hesitantly.

Lily rolled her eyes, but finally grudgingly said, "Yeah, I do."

"Thanks," he repeated, but sounding more sincere.

Again, the fluttery feeling started in her abdomen.

She cleared her throat, "Right, well, we'd better get back to this. We've been here nearly an hour."

James nodded and dutifully looked down at the parchment in front of him.

Every couple of minutes Lily would look up and see him ruffle his hair or readjust his glasses, but looking intently at the parchment in front of him. It looked like he was trying, really trying to do a good job. For some reason this made Lily smile.

About half an hour of silence followed until the weekend bell for lunch rang. They looked up at each other at the same time.

"I think we've been here long enough," James said, yawning and stretching out his back. His white shirt (they had discarded their robes long before) lifted slightly and Lily got a view of his (admittedly hard) stomach. Lily blushed and averted her eyes. "You want to go downstairs for lunch?" James asked her.

Glad for the distraction, Lily replied, "Sure."

They collected their stuff and made their way down the many flights of stairs.

"So when's Quidditch trials?"

"Next Saturday."

"Why so soon?"

"We're the opening game, middle of October. I like to get at least a month's worth of practice before the first match."

"Are Harley and Mar going to make it this year?"

James grinned. "Only if they bring their A-Game. I mean, we barely have any players left! Five of seven returners, I don't know if we'll be able to fill the roster this year."

"I suspect you'll have to start scouting first years."

"Yes, but Gryffindor first years have more talent than Slytherin seventh years."

"Don't get cocky."

"Me? Cocky? Perish the thought!"

Lily laughed, which made James smile.

"I suppose I'll have to come to try-outs just to keep an eye on you."

"Just me?"

Lily reddened realizing what she said. "T-to make sure you let them back on the team, of course!"

James smirked. "Of course," he repeated.

"I'm going to eat lunch now, thank you," Lily said primly, as they had made it to the Great Hall.

"I hope you enjoy it."

"I will."

"Good."

"You know why?"

"Do enlighten me."

"Because I'll be away from you, finally!" Lily teased.

"I hope it's everything you've ever dreamed of."

"It will be."

Although, due to circumstances completely out of Lily's control, her friends were already sitting at the near end of the table. Joined by the Marauders (three fourths of them, anyways). There were two seats left when they got there, in the middle and right next to each other. Lily pretended not to notice, and James graciously pretended that the conversation they had just had didn't happen at all.

And anyways, with every 'accidental' brush of their hands, knees, feet, and elbows, Lily found herself feeling less and less embarrassed.

* * *

><p>"Pick it up, Mitchell, you're allowed to retrieve the Quaffle from the ground after they scored!"<p>

James sighed and rubbed his forehead impatiently. He took out a piece of parchment and crossed off a name from the list of hopefuls who were currently trying out for the Quidditch team.

Sirius flew over to where James was hovering on his broom and looked over his shoulder. "Damn. That's a lot of people."

"Tell me about it," James sighed and stuffed the list back in his pocket. They'd been there for about an hour and a half, and, predictably, the team was so far the same. Marlene and Sirius were still the beaters, sixth year Bailey Clarke was the returning seeker (no way in hell he was letting her go after that spectacular catch in the final the year before), and he had more than a sneaking suspicion that Harley would keep her title as the left wing chaser. She was not only an excellent flyer, but left-handed Quidditch players were a hard find, so they'd most likely be the only team with a strong arrowhead formation.

He was currently trying for the keepers now. James really regretted not doing a 'get in groups and fly a few laps' thing. Some 'players' only made it ten seconds into their try-out before James kicked them off the field.

"Thanks for coming out, Mitchell," James said kindly. The small third year nodded sadly and joined a couple of his friends in the stands.

James took out the parchment again and called out, "Matt Klemmer!"

A tall fifth year flew up, looking fairly confident and adept on his broom. A good sign, compared to the others.

"You get five shots, got it?" James called over to him. Matt nodded and readjusted himself on his broom. Sirius handed James the Quaffle, and the bespectacled chaser immediately took off. He was watching Matt more than focusing on his flying. He gave a somewhat-easy shot, aiming for the right hoop. Matt caught it with ease. Feeling relieved, James took the other four shots, each increasing in difficulty until he tried his hardest, faking twice, before finally putting one in the left hoop. Matt had saved the rest.

"Really good job, mate," James said, giving him a high five. Matt was hesitant but grinned nonetheless. "I have to see the other candidates but I think you have a really good shot."

"Thanks, Potter!" Matt said.

James flew back over to where Sirius was holding the list of people for him.

"I hate responsibility."

"I know, mate."

Twenty minutes and eleven keepers later, James officially announced Matt as their new keeper, and sent him off to Bailey to get his jersey.

"Merlin, finally. Just one more chaser."

"You really shouldn't make it so obvious that you basically let all returning players on," Sirius smirked. "'Might dishearten some."

"At this point I'd do anything just to finish this up quickly."

He had the remaining fifteen players do a couple of laps and from there narrowed it down to ten. He put them through a couple of drills: passing, flying skill, bludger dodging (with the help of Sirius and Marlene). Finally, put them through a round of penalty shots (while he also checked to make sure Matt could keep focus this long) and was left with two chasers: Harley, and a fourth year boy named Sam Heigal, who had amazing accuracy and was good at dodging bludgers.

"All right, that's it for today," James concluded. "Better luck next time to those who didn't make it. Just keep working on your skills, and you can always sign up to be a reserve, there's always room for them. Thanks for coming out." The ones who didn't make it walked away from the huddle, some of them quickly jotting down their names on the parchment Sirius was holding somewhat lazily.

When everyone had gone but the team, James continued on, "Practices are generally Tuesdays and Saturdays right after dinner, and I can normally get Thursdays at four o'clock. As we get closer to games practices will increase, but I'll let you know if we have any schedule changes." He looked around at them. "Good? Cool. Now, I'm starving, let's go clean up and get some food."

The team cheered and headed towards the locker rooms to get showered and changed.

* * *

><p>Weeks slowly slipped by. Lily fell into an easy routine: Sleep, eat, class, homework, study, Head duties. Every Wednesday she and James patrolled the school, starting on the seventh floor and working their way down. They didn't talk much during these late nights, but certainly fell into a somewhat-comfortable existence around each other.<p>

Lily was finally getting a grip on her exhausting schedule when one Sunday in early October, while she and the rest of the seventh year Gryffindors were lounging about in the Common Room (having finally finished their "never-ending-piles-of-homework-from-hell"), she brought up the topic that had been gnawing at the back of her mind for the last month or so.

"Do you think Lynch is doing a good job with DADA?"

Zoe, who was half-sleeping on the loveseat, peered at Lily through one eye. "Why? Are you thinking of rebelling against her and starting your own Defense class?"

"Well... yeah." ... "Why are you all staring at me?"

"Are you feeling all right, Lily?" Remus asked, looking sincerely concerned.

"I'm fine," she snapped. "Why won't any of you say anything?"

"Well, you don't normally hear the Head Girl talking about overthrowing the teacher," Sirius supplied.

"And it's _you_, Lils,"

"What's wrong with me?" Lily asked Alice, slightly hurt.

"Nothing! It's just... you know..."

"I'm not talking about trying to get her _sacked_! I'm just - look, have any of you heard of the Order of the Phoenix?" she asked, lowering her voice so only they could hear.

"Yes," half of them answered.

"No," the other half said.

"How do you all know?" Lily asked Sirius, Frank, Alice, and Marlene.

"Prongs told me," Sirius gestured to James, who shrugged.

"He lives with me, couldn't exactly keep it a secret," he answered.

"_Frank_ told me," Alice put in.

"My dad works closely with Dumbledore, he sometimes helps out."

"My brothers joined last year."

"So much for 'secret society'," Lily said sourly.

"Excuse me, but what's the Order of the Phoenix?" Harley asked, looking around at the six who knew about it.

"It's an organization Dumbledore started," James explained quickly and quietly. Harley, Zoe, Remus, and Peter leaned forward to catch every word. "It's to fight Voldemort, stop Death Eater raids, and the like."

"What's that got to do with Lily starting her own class?" Peter whispered.

"For the love of - I'm _not_ starting my own class!" Lily hissed impatiently.

"Can we talk about this in a place that's a bit more private?" Remus asked, looking wearily at a group of sixth year girls who were watching them.

"Yes. Up to the dormitory," Alice agreed. They all stood up, and the girls instinctively went towards their staircase.

"Er - we can't go up there, remember?" Sirius reminded them.

"I'm pretty sure you guys have figured how by now, but for time's sake, fine," Harley said.

They all ran up the spiral steps, to the seventh year's dorm.

"It looks like we're all going up here to have one big orgy," Zoe observed, hearing giggles behind them.

"Well, if you insist-"

"Shut up, Black," all five girls said at once.

* * *

><p>"So... so what you're saying is... you want to make a... mini Order of the Phoenix?" James asked, looking directly at Lily.<p>

Thankfully, she didn't blush under his intense stare. "Yes."

"Why?"

"Because we can't join yet, obviously; we're still in school."

"So naturally you want to make one of your own."

"Just like a training one. A before-hand Order."

"I still don't understand why we need it."

"Because we should be prepared! I know I'm joining, I'd bet my life you are, and with Lynch letting students in with 'Acceptable' on their OWLs, I don't think we can get it from her."

"But what could we possibly do?"

"People are dying, whether the _Prophet _wants to admit it or not. Look at today's, for God's sake!" Lily pulled a newspaper from Sirius's bed and shook it angrily under James's nose. "A muggle family was _murdered. _The could've been _my_ family. Or yours-"

"Don't think I don't know what's out there. I want to stop it as much as you, but how will making a little club help?"

"We can watch the papers. All of our families combined have a lot of information. Watch what he's doing. Practice dueling. On Hogsmeade weekends we can make sure nothing suspicious is going on. I think Voldemort is going to try attacking Hogwarts, or at least wreak some havoc. He could be recruiting students. Even if he isn't, it's better to be safe than sorry, isn't it?"

James gave her another one of his looks that Lily had no idea in hell on how to interpret. A couple seconds of silenced passed between them before he said, "You make a good point. I'm down with the... Secret-pre-Order-club-thing-of-secrets-and-stuff."

A small smile appeared on Lily's face. "Thanks," she said softly.

"No problem."

"Er... you two _do_ still know we're all in here... right?"

Lily, somewhat startled, looked at Marlene. She, Alice, Harley, Zoe, Frank, Remus, Peter, and Sirius were all looking at her and James with apprehension. "Yes, of course we do."

"Cool, just checking, because Sirius tried interrupting five times before saying 'Fuck it, let's wait until they shut up'. You heard him, didn't you?"

"'Course we did, but I've personally grown adept at ignoring Padfoot - just kidding, mate!" James laughed.

"Yeah, yeah."

"So," Harley said, hitting her knee to get everyone's attention, "I assume we're all down with the... what'd you call it, James? The.. "Secret-pre-Order-club-thing-of-secrets-and-stuff"?"

"That's it."

"All in favor?" she paused, letting everyone put in their own form of assent. "Brilliant, it's officially a go."

"Is it just going to be us?" Alice asked. "Or can we invite other people from other houses?"

"It's a little risky telling so many people about the Order, don't you think?" Remus asked.

"Why don't we tell people we know have connections with the Order?" Frank suggested.

"Who do we know with connections, other than us?" Peter piped up.

"The Prewetts," Marlene answered promptly. "Half their family's already in it, according to my brothers."

"Dorcas Meadows," James added.

"We can go talk to them, and they can also invite their friends that would probably be interested as well," Lily said.

"Everyone agreed?" Zoe asked. The group nodded. "Excellent. Why don't me and Harley tackle the Hufflepuff twins tomorrow at breakfast?"

"And Prongs and I can go talk to Meadows," Sirius said.

"And let's meet on the Quidditch Field after Gryffindor practice on Tuesday," James said.

"Sounds good," Lily said. "I'll go to the Library and make sure this can't in some way get us expelled."

"Shouldn't you have done that first?"

"Too late to change that now."

"Are we really doing this?" Marlene asked, her eyes lit up with excitement.

Lily glanced at James, who caught her eye and grinned. She found herself smiling as well.

"Yeah, I think we are."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Wooo, fast updates! Sorry for the incredibly boring chapters so far, guys, but I hope this one was better!**

**A LOT of L/J this time around, trying to make up for the insane lacking so far! XD**

**So what do you think? Theories? Suggestions? Comments? Let me know in a review! (hint hint wink wink)**

**NEXT TIME: The official first meeting of the "Secret-pre-Order-club-thing-of-secrets-and-stuff". Which WILL get a name. Trust me. Though a lot of you will roll your eyes at it. (: Some Lily/Snape interaction, some late night kitchen raid fluffiness (though it isn't L/J, sorry!)**

**Wow, this was a comparatively short Author's Note.**

**Hope everyone had a happy New Years! And set attainable resolutions. (:**

**Until Next Time!**

**~Smile  
><strong>


	4. The Phoenix Army

**A/N: Sorry this took so long! I don't even really have that many excuses, but see the A/N at the bottom for the complete list.**

**Disclaimer: Everything is JKR's, _especially _the conversation between Lily and Snape below. No copyright infringement intended!  
><strong>

**Chapter Four: The Phoenix Army**

Zoe could feel someone poking her just below her rib cage. Who in the world would be stupid enough to...?

"Zoe," Lily hissed.

The brunette moaned and rolled over, tucking her knees up to her chin, covering her bedhead from Lily, who's poking hadn't stopped.

"Come on, get up."

"Go back to sleep Lily, it's the middle of the night," Zoe finally croaked after Lily started shoving her to get her to wake.

"It's six."

"Why are you being so annoying?"

"Can you please just get up? I... want to go for a run."

"Congratulations."

"Zo, _please_."

Zoe rolled back over, glaring at Lily slightly, but when she saw the pleading look in the Head Girl's eyes, she sighed and kicked off the covers.

"This had better be worth it, or I'm pushing you in the lake."

"The lake-?"

"You wanted to go running, didn't you?"

* * *

><p>"You know, I didn't <em>actually <em>want to go running. I was just kind of looking for a way to get you out of bed," Lily panted. Both she and Zoe were dressed in muggle T-shirts and shorts, about halfway around the lake, almost too tired to finish it.

"Liar. You're probably just embarrassed about wanting to exercise. You're weird like that."

Lily made a face and jokingly attempted to trip Zoe, who let out a "Hey!" and shoved her off the path.

They laughed for a couple of seconds, but then found that it used up way too much energy and fell silent and ran on in sync with each other. Lily's calves and thighs hurt more than she should probably admit, and she felt like just falling down and never getting up. Every root or rock they passed, Lily felt like intentionally tripping over it. Breaking her ankle wouldn't hurt too bad, would it? Would it make them stop running? Zoe would probably just mend it and insist that they finish the lap. Damn her stubbornness. Lily could just hear her voice in her head now, "_You wake me at the crack of dawn to go for a run, we're going to go for a bloody run!_" Merlin, she could be _s__o_ pushy -

"_Shit!"_

Lily tumbled to the ground, arms waving like a windmill.

She had just tripped over a root. And face planted into the mud.

"Merlin, Lily, are you all right?" Zoe exclaimed, kneeling down beside her as Lily sat up, wiping the dirt out of her eyes.

"Yeah fine. I just zoned out, I guess," she said. "Whatever, let's just finish up and go to breakfa - _oowwww!_" she had tried to stand, but pain shot up her ankle and she quickly grabbed Zoe's shirt to steady herself.

"Woah, slow down," Zoe instructed. "I guess you hurt your ankle. It could be broken, but you might have just twisted it." She looked around the area they were in, and saw a large rock right on the shore. "Here, let's go sit down."

Lily nodded and put her arm around Zoe's shoulders, the brunette leading the redhead over to the boulder, and helping her up to the top. They both sat down and faced the water.

"Thanks," Lily mumbled.

Zoe rolled her eyes. "You think I was just going to carry on without you? I'm not _that _horrible."

"No, I mean - for coming out here with me."

"Oh. No problem, I guess."

Lily rested her head on Zoe's shoulder and they sat quietly for a couple minutes, Lily's foot throbbing less and less with each passing second.

"You didn't want to come out here just to go for a stupid run," Zoe said, as though talking about the weather. That was just Zoe. She was callus and indifferent, but she could read people like books. She always knew when someone was upset, and just how to make them feel better. That was, admittedly, why Lily asked her to come out that morning.

"No," Lily admitted.

"What's wrong?"

"You'll think I'm stupid."

"Too late."

"I hate you."

"Love you too. Are you going to keep wasting my time? I'm kind of hungry."

"Sorry. I just..."

"Skip to the part where James is involved."

And that's how, fifteen minutes later, Lily was still going strong on a rant that had been building in her chest for about two years. Although, she was, admittedly, just talking in numerous circles.

"But I mean _really_! How the _hell _am I supposed to act around him? I mean, we're... acquaintances, I guess. Housemates. Pals. But he's just being so _confusing!_ First five years of my knowing him and he's just an arrogant, bullying _prat! _But then he starts getting nicer, and I have _no _idea what to do! Then he pulled that stunt last year-"

"Stunt?"

"After the Cup."

"Oh, right, asking you to be friends. How awful."

"I _know_! And I know I keep obsessing over it -"

"Oh, no, not at all."

Lily didn't notice the sarcasm. "But it's just - ugh! Did I tell you about what happened at the Head's Meeting?"

"Twice."

"And he actually tried to _resign_! Do you know what he said to me?"

"'Not everyone's per-'"

"'Not everyone's perfect like _you_, Lily!" she spat, "Really? What a horrible come-on line! But _then-_"

"Lils!" Zoe finally interrupted loudly. "You're just going in circles. Look, I _know _all of this. _Everyone _knows about all of this. _F__ranky First-Year _probably knows about this. And it's painfully obvious to _everyone _but you what's going on."

"And what is that?" Lily asked stubbornly.

"_You don't hate him!_ And actually, _you _know that too, but it's like you and this realization have an on-again off-again relationship or something. Sometimes you're totally fine with him, like at the meeting yesterday. You guys work well together. But then sometimes it's like you just blow up. Suddenly he's 'Potter' again, and I think it happens every time you come close to just getting over everything that's happened between the two of you."

"But-"

"I _know, _he was horrible. He bullied Snape. He played tricks on the younger students. They got me and Harley a couple times too, when I yelled at Sirius for spilling his ink all over my Transfiguration essay. But he's not like that. _I_ get along with him now."

"You get along with everybody."

"'Liar' isn't a good color for you, Lily."

"All right, fine, he's changed."

"Then why are you still mad at him?"

"I _don't know_! It's so bloody annoying! It's like every time I see his stupid face it's like I keep waiting for him to take off a mask and shout 'Surprise!' and then pull out that stupid snitch and mess up his stupid hair and ask me out!"

"There are girls who would probably perform cannibalistic rituals just to be in your shoes for a _day_," Zoe pointed out.

"I don't know why."

"Yes you do."

"I know," Lily groaned, flopping down onto the rock.

Zoe smoothed out Lily's hair and combed it with her fingers gently. "I know, love."

* * *

><p>"Hey, Zo?"<p>

"Hmm?"

"Was it my imagination, or did you and Lily wake up at some ungodly hour to go _jogging_?"

"It wasn't an ungodly hour, Harley, it was six. Are you nocturnal or something?"

"No, I'm just a normal human being who wakes up _after_ the sun. Anyways, why the sudden exercise?"

Zoe hesitated. "We both just had a... simultaneous health kick, I guess. You know, get in shape. Last year of Hogwarts, might as well look good."

"Weird."

Zoe shrugged good-naturedly, and Harley finally noticed that she was in an uncharacteristically good mood. Not that Zoe was always angry, but she was usually more.. indifferent. She was like.. a stern mother. Or McGonagall.

"What's up with you?" Harley inquired.

Zoe shrugged again. "I'm just psyched for the meeting tomorrow, I guess," she lied easily. Her and Lily's conversation had put her in a good mood, but she didn't think it was her place to tell Harley about it. Not yet, anyway. They were too close to eavesdroppers.

Anyways, 'the meeting' was the very reason Harley and Zoe were ignoring the Gryffindor table and heading towards the Hufflepuff's, making a beeline for the Prewett twins.

"Hi!" Harley said brightly, causing Gideon and Fabian to turn around.

Gideon grinned at the sight of her and replied, "Hey, long time no see. Trying to forget about me?"

"She's not forgetting about you, trust me," Zoe said. Ahh, there she is. Harley almost missed the normal Zoe.

Almost.

"Thanks, Zo," Harley deadpanned, but Gideon grinned a little wider, making her stomach do a little fluttery thing.

"What's up?" Fabian asked, seeing the conversation not going anywhere anytime soon.

Zoe quite agreed and elbowed Harley to get her to focus. "We need to talk to you."

"'Bout what?"

"Can we uh... go down to a less crowded part of the table?" Harley asked, noticing a blonde girl watching them inquisitively. She looked away quickly when she saw Harley notice her, though.

The twins shrugged and followed down to the end of the table, where the nearest person about fifteen feet to the left. The four of them situated themselves.

"You two know about the Order, right?" Zoe asked quietly but firmly. Gideon and Fabian exchanged bewildered exchanges.

"We didn't know people not associated with the Order knew about it..." Fabian trailed off.

"They don't," Harley said, "we just kind of... found out."

"James and Lily told us," Zoe cut in.

"And how'd they find out?"

"Dumbledore. He invited them to join."

"Wow," Gideon looked impressed. "I mean, we both kind of knew we'd join once we were out of here, but we were never... formally invited. But Potter knows about it already, doesn't he?"

"Yeah, his parents or something," Harley spoke up.

"I doubt you came over here just to talk about the Order," Gideon said, reminding them of their initial mission.

"Right. We've come here to invite you guys to join a sort of... club. Thing," Zoe said, being rather vague, which was unusual for her.

"A club?" Fabian asked doubtfully.

"Yeah, it's a..." Harley looked at Zoe before sighing and saying, "It's a "Secret-pre-Order-club-thing-of-secrets-and-stuff"."

"Wow. This thing seems like it's a secret," Gideon said teasingly.

"Shut up. And yes it is, so don't go spreading it around," Harley tried to scold, but ended up smiling.

"These two are going to make me sick," Zoe rolled her eyes.

"Anyways," Harley said loudly, cutting off her best friend with a look. "Just come to the meeting, yeah?"

"What is this.. club thing about? I mean, I know the Order is involved, but you two haven't exactly given us details," Fabian pointed out.

"It's basically a - what did Lily say? - a pre-Order. We're not going to go on raids, obviously, but we might as well get used to keeping track of You-Know-Who. Go over technique. Share knowledge. Peace, love, happiness, you know?"

"When is it?"

"Tomorrow, after Gryffindor's Quidditch practice, right after dinner," Harley answered promptly.

"And you can bring other people. But only if you know they'd be all right with this type of thing. Or have some sort of connection to the Order," Zoe told them.

"Hestia and Dedalus would probably want to know about this," Fabian said to Gideon. His twin nodded.

"We can definitely go talk to them about it. And thanks, you two, we'll meet you guys there," Gideon said.

"Cool. Try not to shout out this information, though," Zoe reminded them once more, before she and Harley left, the brunette turning to look back once more before they got to the Gryffindor table on the other side of the hall. They found Sirius and James sitting, where they obviously just got back from the Ravenclaw table.

"Good news?" Harley asked them.

"Yep. Dorcas and Emmaline immediately accepted. They said they'd talk to Caradoc and Benjy," Sirius replied.

"Brilliant. Gideon and Fabian are going to ask Hestia and Dedalus," Zoe told them.

"Ah, Hestia's amazing. I don't know about Diggle, he's a little spacy," James said.

"Be nice, James. We don't even know if he'll go along with it," Harley scolded.

"Don't get me wrong or anything, the more members, the better," James defended.

"Whatever. I'm starving. Sirius, could you pass me those strawberries?"

* * *

><p>Lily took the long way back from the Library. She'd gone through the official Hogwarts Rule Book, reading the "Clubs, Teams, Organizations, etc" section twice over. What they were doing was in no way breaking any rules. So long as they didn't advertise, they were not defined as a club. If they tried to get 'Club' status, a teacher would have to sponsor it. But Lily preferred to just keep it amongst them.<p>

Just as she was rounding a corner, she almost collided with a tall, greasy-haired, long-nosed Slytherin.

"Oh," she said, "Severus."

Severus simply stood there, looking at her coolly through coal-black eyes. The air almost seemed unsteady as black considered green. Finally, Snape started to walk past her without a word.

Something came over Lily and she turned around, shouting after him, "Wait!"

Snape stopped and turned around slowly, his black cloak whipping in a way that made him look like a large bat. He didn't say anything, but he didn't leave again.

"I... hi," Lily said tentatively.

"Hello," he answered curtly, his tone icy.

"We're starting a club, if you're interested. Just a little Defense Against the Dark Arts thing," Lily blurt out.

"Who's 'we'?"

"The Gryffindors... maybe a couple more."

"Potter? Black?"

"Yes."

"No."

"Sev..."

"No, Lily."

Lily jerked back a little. "You're going to have to get over this silly grudge eventually, Sev."

"It's not a silly grudge. Don't you remember? They tried to _kill _me. Them and Lupin."

"Remus had no control over that," Lily said quietly. "And James _saved your life_."

"He was covering for Black! He probably came up with the whole plan, but got cold feet at the very last second!" Snape screeched.

"And Sirius is sorry."

"Oh, so now it's 'Sirius' and 'James'? You haven't started calling them 'Padfoot' and 'Prongs'?" Snape mocked, his lips curling. "It's nice to see that someone I used to be so close with is so easily swayed. Already part of their fanclub. The blokes who made my life a living hell.."

"Don't pretend to be a pathetic victim," Lily said impatiently. "You hit back. James has the scars from that spell - your 'Sectumsempra'."

Snape's arm twitched a little, as though hearing his own spell caused him great annoyance.

"They were mean and made fun of you, sure, but they were just harmless pranks. I'm not defending them, but I doubt you had nightmares about them making a shampoo bottle follow you around your head for a couple of days," Lily said coldly. It was harsh, but she meant it.

"Whatever," Snape said, his eyes narrowing to slits. "Have fun with your new posse, _mudblood._"

Snape stalked off and Lily watched him sadly, but continued on walking in the other direction, her head held high.

* * *

><p><em>A (long) note on Lily and Severus<em>

Lily and Severus met before starting Hogwarts. It's a fairly infamous tale, he spots Lily after she (quite literally) flies off of the swinging sets in the playground near her house with her sister. Severus was the first one to tell her what she was: a witch.

The two became friends very quickly. Lily, with her large heart that had more than enough love to give, saw Severus as a human instead of a scrawny boy with too-oily hair and a too-long nose, and soon enough they were inseparable.

They came to Hogwarts and were sorted into different houses: Gryffindor and Slytherin, the biggest rivalry in the school. But they initially didn't let that bother them. They'd meet in the Library and do their homework together, they'd be partners in the classes they had together. They'd talk for hours. Lily knew everything about Snape, and vice versa. He knew about how much she _hated _'The Marauders' (well, except for Remus. He was all right) and Lily knew about Sev and his knack for inventing spells, and how much he liked Defense Against the Dark Arts (though, she started noticing how his affections were slowly changing towards the latter part).

When fifth year rolled around, they were still best friends, but more... relaxed, you could say. Lily started spending more time with Harley and Zoe, and by extension Marlene and Alice. She started to notice how much 'girl time' she'd missed over the years. On her birthday in fifth year, she was supposed to meet Severus by the lake, but had completely forgotten, because Alice and Zoe had organized a mini-spa in their dormitory, the five girls stayed up most of the night, giggling and gossipping. It was, admittedly, one of Lily's favorite birthdays.

When morning came around, though, she immediately set off to find Severus and apologize. She found him by the lake, holding a badly wrapped book. He insisted that he didn't care, it was no big deal. He just stuffed the gift into her hands and stalked back up to the school. It had been a journal. Lily was going through a phase where she was convinced she was going to a novelist, and would write tons of little stories. Some of them she would show Sev. It was a beautiful gift, with an emerald green cover and smooth pages that would never run out.

That was probably the day when things started to really change between them. Lily noticed that Sev could be seen with a group of Slytherins that were less than desirable: Mulciber, Avery, a couple of blockheads named Crabbe and Goyle (though, they were two years ahead of them, so they graduated). Right before OWLs started, they'd had had a fight.

It had all started when Lily and Mary MacDonald were walking towards the Library - Lily was going to help her with her Charms homework. Lily stepped into the loo for a moment and when she came out, she saw Mulciber, slightly hidden by a pillar. Mary's back was to him, and he couldn't see Lily either. The redhead watched as she saw Mulciber muttering to himself, his wand pointed at Mary, and she saw his mouth clearly form the word 'crucio', but it didn't seem to be doing anything. His face was contorted into an ugly expression, and Lily knew that his next attempt was going to work. She didn't know how, but he looked _so _angry. Before he open his mouth, though, she whipped out her wand and hit him with a leg-locker curse. He fell over and Lily grabbed Mary's hand and pulled her into the Library quickly. The fourth year never knew what almost happened.

A few days after their study session, Lily went straight to Severus. She didn't go to a teacher. It was all a misunderstanding. Sev would figure out what Mulciber was doing. It would turn out to be a misunderstanding...

"What the bloody hell was your _mate _playing at?" she shrieked in the abandoned hallway as soon as they walked into it.

"What are you talking about? Merlin, Lily, why are you so angry with me all the time?" Severus asked, raising his hands innocently.

"This isn't about us. This is about you, and the company you're deciding to keep."

"They're my friends. Don't you trust me? I thought _we_ were supposed to be friends," he said, "best friends?"

"We _are, _Sev, but I don't like some of the people you're hanging round with! I'm sorry, but I detest Avery and Mulciber! _Mulciber! _What do you see in him, Sev, he's creepy! D'you know what he tried to do to Mary MacDonald the other day?"

And they kept going. Sev tried to insist it was a joke, but Lily wasn't sure. Finally, they just walked off to enjoy the rest of the evening.

About two weeks, later, everything fell apart. It was after their Defense Against the Dark Arts OWL, and it was when Severus called Lily practically the most insulting thing he could: Mudblood.

James was teasing him. He hung him upside down from a tree, almost pulled off his underpants, washed his mouth out with soap, embarrassing him in front of the entire school. At least Lily wasn't there to witness it... but then there she was there. In all her glory, she was insisting James leave him alone...

_"So, Snape, why do you hang out with that mudblood, the ginger?" Mulciber asked, smirking slightly._

_Sev looked up from his essay. His knuckles turned a little white when Mulciber mentioned Lily. "I don't know what you're talking about."_

_"Oh, come on, Severus. We can all admit she's very pretty. Trying to get her, eh?"_

_Severus hesitated. "Oh. Yeah. Right."_

_Mulciber chuckled. "You sure set your standards high. Just remember, don't get too attached. Bag her and just drop her."_

Mulciber and Avery were both watching, they were laughing along with everyone else. Lily was the only one who would stand up for him. _Why_?

"...don't need help from filthy little Mudbloods like her!"

Before it was completely out of his mouth, Snape knew he would regret that simple sentence for the rest of his life.

It was strange. Just one sentence. Ten words. Just the one word, and suddenly he lost his best friend.

It was something they would both carry around for the rest of their lives.

* * *

><p>"All right, does everyone understand?" James asked.<p>

Lily looked around at the little crowd gathered in the general area of the circle in the middle of the pitch. Sirius, Harley, Marlene, and James were still in their Quidditch robes, still slightly disheveled from flying not ten minutes before.

They were all there. All ten Gryffindors, and eight others from Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff: Dorcas Meadows, Emmaline Vance, Caradoc Dearborn, and Benjy Fenwick from Ravenclaw, and Fabian and Gideon Prewett, Hestia Jones, and Dedalus Diggle from Hufflepuff.

"Who came up with this idea?" Hestia asked.

"Lily."

"It's _brilliant!_"

Lily flushed slightly. "It's not like we can do a lot right now. Basically it's just keeping track of Voldemort-"

"No, we can do so much more," protested Caradoc, his blue-green eyes flashing with excitement. "If you really think he's going to try and... attack Hogwarts-"

"We can keep an eye on things!" Dorcas cut in.

"I bet we could work out some sort of schedule, a couple of us could patrol at night, quite a few of us are Prefects, we could come up with something to keep up out of trouble," Fabian said calmly, but you could tell the excitement was getting to him too.

"And especially watch some of the Slytherins," Emmaline reminded them. "Mulciber, Avery, Snape. They're bad news."

Zoe glanced at Lily when Emmaline said that, but the redhead didn't seem to react at all, she was just nodding in agreement.

"What if they've already joined?" Dedalus asked them.

"We could definitely find out, with all of us working toward it."

"Wow. I didn't think everyone would be so good with this," Lily murmured to Harley.

Harley shrugged. "Maybe with everyone here, it's really easy to hope it will all work out well."

"James!" Hestia suddenly called over to the Marauder. He looked up from his conversation with Caradoc and Gideon. "James, you _have _to teach us some of the spells you know."

"That could be part of this," Frank mused. "We're all at different levels in different classes. We could teach each other what we know."

"How often are we going to meet, though?" Gideon asked him.

Everyone was quiet for a moment.

"I don't suppose every day would be good?" Hestia asked hopefully.

"No," James said firmly. "We have Quidditch."

"Oh, for the love of-"

"Plus," Lily said quickly, coming to James's defense, "It would look weird, us always meeting like this."

"How about once a week?" Zoe suggested.

"What day? We have-"

"Yes, yes, have of you are co-dependent on Quidditch, we realize. When do you all have practices?" Zoe cut Caradoc off before he could say they had to practice.

"Gryffindors are usually Tuesday and Saturdays."

"Ravenclaws practice on Mondays and Thursdays."

"Hufflepuffs have the pitch on Wednesdays and Sundays."

"So Friday is the only day free?" Peter asked incredulously.

"We can work with that," Alice said.

"But Slytherin has the pitch from dinner until curfew on Fridays," Sirius said. "It's totally booked up."

"Oh."

"Do we _have _to meet on the field?" Harley asked.

"It's convenient and out of the way," Remus said.

"Why not down by the lake or something?"

"And if it rains, we'll make a tent, will we?"

"Oh, right."

"Why not in just one of the unused classrooms?" Gideon suggested.

"Most of them are way too small," James pointed out. "That's why they're unused."

"Then where do _you _suggest?"

"The Room of Requirement."

The crowd fell silent a little, a look of awe on most of their faces.

"You _found_ it?" Marlene asked him.

"Yeah, we did," James said, gesturing to Sirius, Remus, and Peter.

"We needed it for a place to practice - uhhh, that is, we just stumbled on it one day in second year," Peter said, changing his sentence quickly when Sirius not-so-subtly dug his elbow into Peter's ribs.

"Yep, that's all it was," Remus said.

"Anyways," Sirius said quickly. "Would that work for everyone? The Room of Requirement? Every Friday after dinner?"

They all agreed, excited.

"Let's go up there right now!" Hestia said excitedly.

"Wait, there's a problem," Emmaline said suddenly.

"Shit, Emma, what's wrong?" Benjy asked.

"What the _hell _is the Room of Requirement?"

* * *

><p>"This is <em>so fucking cool<em>."

"'Knew you'd like it, Emma."

"Yeah, my vote goes for this."

All eighteen of them slowly went into the recently opened room. It was a large and very spacious. There were torches lining the walls every two or three feet, with a large central chandelier illuminating the room quite effectively. All around the walls were wooden bookcases. Some had a few books, but most were empty. There were large cushions on the floor: eighteen, to be in fact. At the far end of the room, a bookcase was filled with object that were definitely not books. There were three different types of sneakoscopes, a few secrecy sensors, and many more instruments the eighteen teenagers had no clue what the uses of were.

"Wow."

"'Pretty much sums it up," Harley agreed with Zoe.

"I mean _wow_."

"This is perfect!" Lily said quietly.

"All in favor?" Zoe asked diplomatically.

Everyone raised their hands. Hestia was already flipping through a couple of the books.

"We need to buy a few more modern books. These are from the 20's," she noted.

"We can just get some from the library and duplicate them," Sirius said offhandedly.

Lily looked scandalized. "That's stealing!"

"Now, Evans, I'd say we'd _need _some new books, since these don't even know who Grindelwald is," Sirius pointed out, reading the back cover of _A Timeline of Dark Magic_.

Lily frowned, but eventually gave in.

"This is so exciting!" Harley said.

"Can the first meeting be today?" Hestia asked.

"No," Lily said firmly. "It's almost ten o'clock, we all need to be back in our dormitories.

"Aww, Lils, where's your sense of adventure?" Harley pouted.

"Right next to my constant need to cause trouble."

"Nonexistent, then?"

"Exactly."

"Should we have a name?" Gideon interrupted, getting them back on track of the meeting.

"I don't suppose we could just keep "Secret-pre-Order-club-thing-of-secrets-and-stuff"?"

"It's kind of a mouthful," Dedalus said.

"We can change it to SPOCTOSAS," Marlene suggested with a smirk.

"That sounds like a condiment," Emmaline said.

"This is kind of like the Order of the Phoenix, right?" Dorcas clarified.

"Well, yeah, we were hoping," Remus said.

"Why not 'Phoenix Army'?" she suggested.

"That makes us sound like some weird cult or something," Benjy said.

"We can shorten it to PA," she insisted.

"I like it," Alice finally said. "It has... poetry."

"'Poetry'? It sounds stu- great!" Frank stammered, when Alice shot him a look.

Dorcas looked pleased.

"All in favor of 'PA'?" Zoe asked, ever the judge in these 'all in favor' situations. The group shrugged and agreed. "Nice."

"Is that it, then?" Benjy asked.

Lily checked her watch. "It'll have to be, it's nine-forty-eight. We should get back to our dormitories now."

"All right. First meeting this Friday?" Caradoc clarified.

They all agreed and in two's and three's they left. James was hailed down by Caradoc, the latter insisting that the former teach him the _Partis Temporus_ spell.

Lily, noticing this, poked Harley's arm. "Why does everyone keep asking James about spells?"

Harley shrugged. "They must've noticed how good he is at dueling."

"What do you mean?"

"Lils, he's the best in our year. Probably the best to come around in a quite a few years. He's never had anything below an 'O' in Defense. Didn't you know?"

Lily shook her head. Thinking of it, there was a lot she didn't know about James Potter.

* * *

><p>Harley was bored. She couldn't sleep. Marlene, Alice, Lily, and Zoe were all snoozing peacefully around her. The air was practically thick with their good dreams.<p>

She tried to empty her mind.

She tried counting sheep.

She tried counting kneazles.

She tried to remember what Professor Binns's voice sounded like.

Close, but not enough to put her to sleep.

She wanted hot chocolate. Normally she would have just woken Zoe and they would go to Honeydukes, but they'd never gone out after curfew. They'd usually go just after dinner, or during a weekend study session.

Oh well. There was nothing that could be done of it. A hot chocolate craving couldn't just go ignored.

She needed to go to the kitchens.

She kicked off the blankets and swung her legs over the side of the bed and slipped them into her slippers. She quietly snuck out of the room, tugging her blue dressing gown over her shoulders as she went. Though she wouldn't like to admit it, Harley's heart was racing. Any second she could be caught by Filch. She had to go from the top of the Gryffindor tower, all the way down to the basements, practically. The chances of her _not _getting caught were smaller than her pinky toe. But the thought of getting caught only made her unconsciously step less softly as she started to descend a staircase, making just a bit more noise -

"Fucking hell."

She'd stepped through a trick stair.

Her right leg was bent awkwardly above her as her left was covered up to her thigh. Shit, what was she going to do? She couldn't just stay there. What if she fell all the way through? Was it possible to fall all the way through a trick stair? Had it ever happened before? What if Filch came and found her there, and gave her detention for the rest of he-

"Pesnky?"

Harley looked around wildly for the source of the noise and saw Sirius Black a few steps above her, holding a piece of worn parchment. He saw Harley looking at it and hastily stuffed it into his robes.

"What are you doing here?" Harley whispered.

"You don't have to whisper, no one's around," Sirius assured her.

"How do you know?"

He ignored her. "You seem to be in a bit of a dilemma."

"Brilliant observation skills, really. I don't suppose you could help me out?" Harley requested. Her legs were falling asleep.

"Hmm... I don't know, I can almost see your knickers from here."

Harley scowled but readjusted the front of her robe. "_Sirius Black-_"

"Merlin, I was kidding. Give me your hands, for Godric's sake," he rolled his eyes and held out his palms and Harley gripped them type. Sirius pulled her up and out Harley shook her legs a bit to get the blood flowing again.

"Thanks," she said.

Sirius shrugged. "S'no big deal. What are you doing out this late, anyways?"

"Hot chocolate. I couldn't sleep. 'Wanted to go for a walk. Take your pick."

"Hot chocolate? Everyone knows the best is in -"

"Honeydukes," they said simultaneously. Harley laughed and Sirius smiled.

"Yeah, I know," Harley said. "I just didn't want to walk all the way there. And they wouldn't be open right now."

"True, I guess. Shall I escort you to the kitchens, then?" he asked chivalrously, holding out his elbow for her to take.

"Not going to take another peak at my knickers?"

"Only if you want me to - kidding!" he added quickly when she glared. Harley laughed lightly and took his arm.

They both jumped over the trick step and made their way towards the Kitchens, talking about Quidditch.

"The Wasps have got it in the bag this year," Sirius said confidently. "Ludo Bagman's brilliant. I'd be surprised if they _didn't_ go undefeated."

"Oh, I don't know," Harley said, "I think the Arrows might kick their arses."

"Don't even say that," Sirius said seriously, causing Harley to smirk. "That's not funny!"

"It kind of is-"

"Who's there?"

Harley and Sirius froze, hearing Filch's voice.

"I know you're there!"

They could hear his uneven footsteps coming closer. The two Gryffindors looked at each other. Sirius mouthed 'Run!', grabbed her arm, and took off. Harley was pulled along after him before she started sprinting as well. Sirius avoided the staircases and ran down another hallway that was dimly lit.

"You won't get away!"

The pair shot past a stretch of unused classrooms. Harley had no idea what was going on, but Sirius seemed to be looking for something specific. Finally, as they rounded a corner, he pulled out his wand and jabbed it at a tapestry, muttering a spell three times. While he did this, Harley's heart was practically in her throat. Filch's threats seemed to be even closer, and just as she thought she could see his shadow coming round the corner, Sirius pulled back the tapestry and grabbed Harley's arm again, dragging her into the small space and dropping the cloth behind them.

The stood in the small wall cavity, barely daring to breathe. It was pitch black and cramped. They were facing each other and were barely half a foot away. Filch could be heard just outside.

"Where are you...?" he growled. Mrs. Norris meowed and Harley could hear her _just outside of the bloody tapestry._ She looked at Sirius, but he had a finger up to his lips. Harley unconsciously held her breath.

Filch walked around the area until finally it was quiet for a few minutes.

Harley let out her breath. "Damn, that was clo-"

"Ah-hah!" Filch suddenly cried out, pulling back the tapestry. "Thought you have a little bit of _fun_ - what the?"

He was looking right at them. He was looking behind the tapestry. He could _see_ them! Couldn't he? He placed a hand in the air - or what looked like the air. From where Harley was standing (about a foot away from him) it almost looked like he was pressing his hand against something solid. Like stone. Harley looked back at Sirius, and he, seeing her expression, winked.

Filch couldn't see them. He could only see a blank stretch of stone wall.

The caretaker muttered something to himself before walking off, dropping the cloth behind him. They waited a couple minutes before Sirius stuck his head out of the little cavity.

"We're good," he said, and pulled back the tapestry to let Harley out.

"What _was _that?" she asked him.

Sirius grinned. "I found it last year. Just a simple spell and you have the best hiding place in all of Hogwarts. You can see out, but no one else can see in."

"That's amazing," Harley said in awe. She touched the wall where they just were, and it had gone back to being just wall. "I love this castle."

"It's pretty brilliant," Sirius agreed. "So, anyways - kitchens?"

Harley shook her head. "I think I've had enough of an adventure tonight. Maybe some other time. I'm just going to go back to sleep."

Sirius shrugged. "All right. But let me walk you back."

"Oh, no, you don't have-"

"What if Filch comes back? I can't let a lady go wandering about unprotected!" Sirius said dramatically.

Harley smiled. "Thanks. And Sirius?"

"Yeah?"

"The Wasps are going to _annihilate_ the Arrows."

"'Knew you'd come around."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Don't hate me! I know, it's been two weeks! In my defense, I am in the middle of Finals.**

**Ah, who am I kidding? I just had a serious case of writer's block. Part of it was frustration. About a week ago I was working the chapter and had about 3000 words done in one sitting, but when I saved, apparently FF logs you out if you take too long. Making you lose all of your progress.**

**Woops.**

**So yeah. That's just about it. At least it's only two weeks! Right? No? Yeah, I'd be frustrated with me too.**

**Anyways, so that's the answer to the mysterious "What's the name going to be?". Ripe tomatoes to throw at my face for the lameness are available at the 'revew' button. **

**But seriously, please review. I love reviews. They make me write faster. I'm practically a review whore. So, just do it. (:**

**Anyone who catches the significance of the room they were in for the meeting gets 1000 hugs and kisses. Unless that's not your thing, then you get 1000 cookies.**

**NEXT TIME: I'm actually not sure yet. This fic is moving a lot faster than I thought it would. In my plans, we're supposed to be in chapter 7 right now, but the chapters planned were a whole lot smaller than these. There was only enough happening in each chap for about 2000 words. I'm such a horrible planner. XD**

**Sorry there wasn't a whole lot of Lily/James in this one! Hopefully more next chapter! ^_^**

**Review! I'm thinking of including a couple backstories like the Lily/Sev one in this chapter in a few other chapters. If I continued, the next one would probably be Harley/Zoe. Tell me what you think! :D**

**Until Next Time!**

**~Smile  
><strong>


	5. Freckles and Specs

**Chapter 5: Freckles and Specs  
><strong>

"I'm tired. And bored. Very, very bored. _So _bored, in fact, that I think we should just stop right now and leave. Or maybe fall asleep on the comfy looking floor. It looks rather comfy. Would marble feel like goose-feather pillows? I think it would."

"James Potter, are you drunk?" Lily asked the Head Boy.

It was closing in on midnight, a few hours after the newly-named PA meeting. Lily and James were taking their turn of patrolling for the month, and the latter was not happy with this fact at all.

"Not drunk, no," James answered. "I just need to sleep. It takes a lot of beauty rest to look this dashing every day." He flipped his hair dramatically and his glasses flew off his nose, clattering to the floor.

Lily cracked up but bent down and retrieved them for him, shoving them unceremoniously onto his face.

"Oi! Watch the face! Weren't you listening?" James said, pointing to himself, "_Dashing_."

"I've seen dashinger."

"'Dashinger'? _'Dashinger_'? What sort of horrible vocabulary is _this, _Freckles?"

"'Freckles'?"

"It's your nickname. Obviously."

"Since _when_?"

"Since now! You need a nickname."

"No I don't."

"You, do, though."

"Most people would go with 'Red'."

"Unoriginal," James waved it off.

"Oh yes," Lily said sarcastically. "Because when people look at me, they don't automatically think of 'Red' and 'Freckles'." She pointed to her cheeks, which were sprinkled heavily with freckles.

"Exactly! Glad you understand, Freckles."

"You'll never keep it up. Tomorrow you'll forget about it."

"Lies," he accused, and Lily laughed at his completely serious face.

They continued down the hallway, slowing in front of every broom closet or well-known unused classroom. Because really, the only reason they have to go on patrols is to catch the hormone-driven couples fumbling around in the closets and send them back to their respective Common Rooms.

"Wait," Lily said, throwing her arm across his chest to stop him in front of a broom closet.

James didn't miss a beat. "Giving in to my charm, are we? Thought you'd never come around-"

"Potter, would you shut up for a few seconds?" Lily asked, ignoring him (though turning considerably redder than before). "Listen."

There were muffled moans and plunger-esque noses coming from inside the small closet. Lily wrinkled her nose. James sighed.

"Merlin, this is the fourth one. All right then, might as well let them stop embarrassing themselves. _Alohamora!"_

The door swung open, revealing extremely disheveled forms of Leslie Robins and Charlie Williams. Upon discovering that they had been found, they sprang apart from each other, looking guilty. Considering that the small space was just about a meter in width, though, they didn't get very far from each other.

"Sorry, but we're going to have to take ten points from Hufflepuff and Gryffindor," James said, averting his eyes. Leslie wasn't exactly wearing her shirt completely buttoned. Or on at all, really.

"Oh, come on, mate, you're own house?" Charlie asked, trying to subtly button his own shirt back up.

"Let's not make it twenty," Lily sang. She glanced at James urging him to continue. When he stayed silent, she rolled her eyes, deciding to take over from there. "Leslie, put your shirt back on for God's sake. Both of you get back to your Common Rooms. And Charlie if you say anything more we'll personally escort you both."

She narrowed her eyes, daring him to argue. The Gryffindor boy shut his previously opened mouth and simply glowered. After Leslie had concealed her undergarments with a big show of annoyance ('_For goodness sake,' _Lily thought) They both stalked off, going in opposite directions, Charlie muttering something about a 'bloody prude'.

"Nice teamwork," James commented casually, glancing behind him to make sure Leslie wasn't trying to double around and head back up the stairs.

"'Lily and James: Forever Fighting the Raging Hormones of Hogwarts' Students'," Lily said dramatically.

"I like it."

"Me too."

Lily smiled at him and James looked like he was about to say something. Lily's mind kind of turned to mush just then, and her heart rate sped up, because _what the hell was going on was she actually having an honest-to-God _moment _with James Potter? _

Breaking previously mentioned honest-to-God moment, though, they both heard footsteps coming from the end of the corridor.

"Oi! Prongs!"

Lily and James unconsciously put more space between themselves, even though they had been easily standing three feet apart.

"Bloody hell, Black, what are you doing up?" Lily asked exasperatedly, breaking eye contact with James to scold the new arrival.

Sirius, still wearing his uniform, waved her off as though this fact wasn't important.

"I just needed to pick up a bit of parchment," he said, the epitome of casual.

Lily stared at him, dumbfounded. "Are you kidding me right now?"

"Why would I kid?" he asked, "I just need some parchment."

"Sirius, it's past midnight!"

"And?"

"All right," James interrupted them, "Sirius here, take your bloody parchment." He shoved a square piece of worn parchment into his hands. A look of understanding passed between them that Lily had no idea how to interpret.

Sirius grinned cheekily. "'Thanks, mate." He gave a salute to Lily and then walked off, making his way back up the stairs, towards the Gryffindor Common Room. However, the first chance he got he checked the Map to make sure the pair had gone and then doubled back. But Lily didn't know this, and was satisfied when he finally left.

"What was he on, coming down here at midnight for some bloody parchment?" she asked her partner.

"Why is it," James asked teasingly, "that you always assume that we Marauders are in some way intoxicated? 'What was he on?', 'Are you drunk, James?'"

"You're the Marauders. Assumptions come with the name."

"Really? And what other "assumptions" have been made about us?"

Lily thought for a second. "Are Sirius and Remus really shagging?"

James faltered and almost tripped over his own feet, looking down at Lily's completely serious face.

Lily noticed his near-stumble and went completely white. "Oh my Merlin, _they are? _Not that they haven't made it subtle or anything! I mean, wasn't Sirius hinting at it the first night back?" she was getting a tad excited. Damn her girly, gossipy side.

James burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" Lily demanded.

"Y-you - you think R-R-_Remus_ and - and _Sirius _are _shagging_?"

"No!" Lily immediately backtracked, but smiled guiltily, "that's what _other_ people think!"

"Oh, _Merlin_! I can't wait to tell them that."

"No, you prat, you can't!"

"What? Why not?"

"What if it's true? You'll only embarrass them!"

"They won't get embarrassed by a few rumors! C'mon, give me some more, these are excellent!"

"How can you not have heard of these?" Lily asked him. "The Hogwarts Gossip Mill is just full of them."

James shrugged. "'Dunno. We just never paid attention. But give me more!" he demanded.

"Umm..." Lily tried to think of a good one, "when Remus visits his mother, the four of you really sneak off and get plastered at the Hog's Head."

James paled a little at the mention of this, His heart had almost stopped when she said 'you four', but a huge wave of relief swept over him when she finished. It was close. Dangerously close, but at least no one suspected the truth. "Oh, that's silly!" he said instead, giving a weak laugh.

Lily noticed this and stopped walking, choosing instead to lean against the wall. "Why?" she asked softly, "because Remus is actually a werewol-?" Before she knew it, James had sprung forward and covered her mouth with his hand, shushing her furiously.

"What the hell?" he hissed, leaning in close to her, his eyes alight with suspicion. "How do you _know_ that?"

"Get off me!" Lily said, but it sounded muffled. James removed his hand from her mouth and instead place it against the wall near her head, steadying himself, but not moving away. He couldn't afford anyone overhearing. _Remus _couldn't afford for anyone to overhear.

"How do you know?" he repeated, but much more calmly.

"I figured it out, that's all," Lily snapped.

"When?"

"Sixth year," she answered pointedly.

Realization dawned on James. "_Snape?_ He _told_ you! That lying bastard!"

"He didn't tell me, James!" Lily said, grabbing his shoulders when he started to storm away. "I figured it out on my own! I - I saw Madame Pomfrey leading him down to the Whomping Willow, that's all. But - but Snape had his suspicions before... the incident. He kept hinting at it. I told him it was rubbish, though!" she added quickly, seeing the rage back in James's eyes.

"No one else knows?" James clarified, calming down.

"Not that I know of."

"Harley? Zoe? You didn't tell them?"

"Of course not," Lily said.

"Oh... good," he said awkwardly.

Lily looked at him and then they both finally realized the situation they were in. Lily was pressed against the wall, James's hands on either side of her head, he leaning into her, his face dangerously close to hers.

James immediately sprang away from the Head Girl, and Lily awkwardly pretended to dust off her robes.

"So anyways," James said, breaking the silence. "Thanks for.. you know, not telling anyone."

"No problem. It's not my secret, anyway."

"Right."

"When did you three find out?"

"Second year."

"Wow."

"Yeah-"

"Moony," Lily suddenly said.

James looked around wildly, thinking that she meant she saw Remus around. When he didn't see him, he looked at Lily curiously. "What?"

"Moony," she repeated. "You three call him 'Moony'. That has to do with his.. condition."

"Oh," he said, "yeah. I guess it does."

"Well, then, what do 'Prongs', 'Padfoot', and 'Wormtail' mean?" she asked.

James stared at her for a few seconds. "It's weird hearing you say the nicknames."

"Why?" Lily asked, slightly offended.

"I dunno, it's just... you're not a Marauder. They're kind of off-limits to anyone who isn't."

"I'm sorry to be intruding on your fraternity," Lily said drily.

"No! No, it's nothing like that. It's just weird, that's all. Like what if someone other than me called you 'Freckles'?"

"That's not my nickname!" Lily protested.

"Yes it is, Freckles."

"You're annoying."

"You love me."

"I hate you."

"Sure you do."

They had arrived back at the Portrait Hole, the time nearing one in the morning.

"I thank thee for a wonderful night, Madame Evans," James said when they stepped into the Common Room, bowing low with a flourish of his hand.

Lily laughed and hit his shoulder lightly to get him to stand straight. "Good night, James Potter." She started ascending the Girl's staircase.

"'Night, Freckles."

Lily was a few steps up and wheeled around to see him still standing at the foot of them. "It won't stick," she warned.

"It will."

"Then I'll start calling you 'Specs'," she threatened.

James considered it. "I like it."

"I suppose it _is _better than calling you a fork."

He grinned. "Yeah, I suppose it is."

With a final smile and good-bye, Lily ran up the stairs and into her dormitory, closing the door quietly behind her.

"Where the _hell_ have you been?" am extremely anxious voice asked from the the darkness.

Heart thundering in her chest, Lily whirled around in time to see Harley running up to her, then throwing her arms around the redhead's neck, hugging her tightly.

"Harley! What are you doing?"

"I-thought-you-were-asleep-then-I-see-your-bed-empty-and-the-window-was-open-and-I thought-'Shit!-Lily's-been-kidnapped!'-and-do-you-have_-any-_idea-how-worried-I-was?" Harley answered in one breath, pulling back.

"I wasn't _kidnapped_. I had rounds. But what are _you_ doing up?"

"I wanted hot chocolate."

"Did you bring back extra?"

"No, I never made it to the kitchens."

"What?"

"I'll tell you in the morning. Now I'm kind of tired-"

"Yes, and_ so are other people_!"

Harley and Lily both jumped and looked over at Zoe's bed, the source of the sudden whisper-yell. Zoe had thrust back her bed curtains and was glaring at the two of them, her hair in a giant knot at the top of her head.

"Nice hair, Zo," Harley said, sticking her tongue out.

"Oh shut up. Literally. And my God, get some sleep. I was kidding when I called you nocturnal, Harley." Without another word she closed her curtains and they could hear the 'thump' of her slamming her head on her pillow in what could only be described as furiously.

Lily and Harley looked at each other and started giggling, but had enough sense to muffle it behind their hands.

"What would we do without her?" Harley asked Lily quietly.

"Die in a hole somewhere in New Guinea because you both were so deprived of sleep," came Zoe's dry reply from her bed.

With a final smirk Lily and Harley both returned to their beds, Lily first changing into a nightgown.

"Good night," the redhead heard her friend say quietly.

"'Night."

* * *

><p><em>An (even longer) note on Harley, Zoe, and Lily<br>_

Harlene Lucy Pensky and Zoe Rae Simmons were best friends since practically birth. Or, at least, since very far back in their own memories. They're also on totally opposite ends of the spectrum.

Zoe, with her petite frame and slightly-less-than-average height, shoulder-length black hair and blue eyes, looks like an absolute doll but has a strange sort of intimidating aura around her. She comes across as pessimistic, bossy, and bitter at first, though when you finally start to talk to her (if you're ever daring enough to try, as so many people are not) it becomes obvious that she just has a fairly thick outer shell. In all honesty, Zoe is a very good friend. She understands people. She notices the subtle changes in facial expressions, and can pick up on whatever someone's feeling. She's a good listener, and would be willing to sit in the Dormitory for three hours straight with a certain hysterical ginger, vehemently cursing Severus Snape's name after the 'Incident of June' in Fifth Year.

No matter how happy or buzzed Zoe is, there's always a bit of seriousness surrounding her. She can crack a joke that has she and her friends rolling on the ground, but another second and her face could be as hard as a rock, not giving any indication of any mirth from the previous moments. She's focused. She isn't a stereotypical Gryffindor like James, Sirius, Lily, or even Marlene and Harley. She doesn't lead the pack, or plan secret raids to the kitchens, or throw random parties just for the hell of it, though she'd love to _participate_ in any of those scenarios. But the Gryffindor courage does make appearances in strange ways. On the day when McGonagall was in such a foul mood that even Sirius Black kept his mouth shut, the professor took five points from Sam Thornton for knocking over pot of ink. Zoe was the one to stand up and deliberately throw her ink onto the ground, not breaking eye contact with McGonagall (Lily at this point had put her face into her hands, convinced that Zoe would spend the rest of her life in detention). After about fifteen seconds, though, McGonagall just curtly said 'Sit down, Miss Simmons,' and ten minutes later awarded Sam five points for spelling 'Animagus' correctly on his homework.

Zoe is passionate but careful, sympathetic but angry. She can smile and have witty banter with just about anyone, but will be the first to realize when everyone just needs to shut the hell up and pay attention.

On the other hand, Harley was tall with brown hair that reached her elbows, curling lightly on the way (with the help of some curling charms, though). Her eyes were hazel, much like James Potter's, though hers were more green compared to his golden-brown. Harley always seemed to be energetic. She'd be the one to lead the dormitory down to the lake to camp out on a Friday night. She liked open fields with grass and a lot of wind. Sometimes she'll joke that if she was never a witch she'd just become a hitchhiker and see the entire world. While Harley can be painfully oblivious as to how other people feel, she notices the environment and has sharp eyes. If someone loses an earring back, they call upon Harley since she'd probably find it among the thick carpet in about five seconds flat. She almost tried out for the Seeker position on the Quidditch team, but Bailey, the current seeker, had already been on the team for a year.

But in that case, Harley's rather stupid. You see, she's afraid of heights. It usually sort of puts a damper on one's Quidditch skill, but it only made Harley practice more and more. She tried out in fifth year, the summer before having spent hours upon hours flying in her back yard, each day going higher and higher, her heart threatening to give out when she saw the ground, so very far below her. Her greatest fear is that she'll fall, but that only made her practice longer, getting better at flying. She doesn't like to be scared or vulnerable. She hates being the one people take care of. Whenever Harley gets scared, she just pushes forward, convincing herself she'll get through it all. She was a Gryffindor! Courage was supposed to be her defining factor! When the time inevitably comes that she fails, she falls, and falls hard, with a fiery crash when she hits the bottom.

Harley is the type of person people enjoy being around. But while some days she's up, head high in the clouds, others striving to see what she sees, do what she does in order to be just how happy she appears, there used to be days when she'd fall and come crashing down to Earth and suddenly the sunshine would gone. She'd be quiet, moody, forgetful, and downright sad. She'd hardly get out of bed, or if she did she wouldn't talk much. By the time sixth year rolled around, these... episodes, for lack of better word, had stopped, the last being just after summer started, after fifth year, when her grandmother died. An entire week she didn't speak a word except on the day of her funeral, and even then it was many 'thank-you's to the well-wishers coming up saying various versions of "I'm sorry for your loss." Zoe stayed over at her house, not really talking much herself. Lily came over once, but she was in over her head. She'd never seen Harley like this, and Lily was going through her own troubles then as well. She's gone over a year without the mood swings, but sometimes it comes very close.

When Zoe is in a bad mood she feels bitter towards her two best friends. They always seemed to have their problems. With Lily it was always 'James-or-Snape-this' and 'James-or-Snape-that.' With Harley, everything about her was dramatic. She was always dramatically happy or dramatically depressed. Even her hair was dramatically long and her arms and hands moved dramatically as she talked, speaking of some dramatic story. It was enough to drive anyone up the wall, really!

But then when Lily would come to her, on the verge of tears over something Snape said or because she was so frustrated with James or the Marauders in general, and when Harley would get that dead look in her normally bright eyes, all of these thoughts vanished. They needed her, and she needed them. Lily's father died when she was only twelve. Harley was a manic depressive. Zoe was an only child, her father an Unspeakable and therefore not very close with his daughter, and her mother worked as a dance and voice coach in the summer, the only time of the year Zoe is home. Oftentimes she found herself spending numerous nights at Harley's house, and after the Incident of June, Lily's as well.

At the end of fifth year, Lily suddenly found herself alone and betrayed by the person she thought was her best friend. Harley and Zoe immediately picked her up, dusted her off, put a warm cup of hot chocolate in her hand and she officially completed their trio.

Harley would always say that they needed a ginger to offset the brown and black. Lily did indeed somewhat stick out where ever she went, with her red hair and pretty, vibrant green eyes. But that wasn't just it, especially since she became Head Girl (but everyone knew that was coming). Lily was uncommonly kind to everyone she met. She tutored underclassman in Charms and was a member of the Slug Club. All of the teachers adored her, and the only bad thing Slytherins could say about her was that she was a muggle-born. No, she wasn't a saint who went around with skirts below her knees, a cross around her neck, and her hair in a secure bun. She was just a nice person, but was still sarcastic and witty when she wanted to be (especially when around a certain bespectacled Marauder). She's insanely stubborn over basically everything. Lily Evans does not like to admit that she's wrong, and it usually takes a nice long chat with Zoe and her analytical eyes for her to finally admit defeat.

Lily fit in much better with Harley and Zoe than she thought she would, at first thinking it would be awkward with the two brunettes. After all, what if they were bitter towards her, since she would often spend time with Severus instead of them? But they didn't care. They understood, in fact, which only made it easier to comfort her. From that day on, the three were close to inseparable. Lily was the realist, Harley the optimist, and Zoe the pessimist. They could carry on complete conversations with just facial expressions. They practically share a trunk since they swap clothes so often. One could yell repeatedly at the other two to just shut up and go to bed, and the other two would just laugh it off but eventually follow the order, because let's face it: a sleepy, cranky Zoe is scary Zoe. The each knew the good, the bad, the ugly, the dreadful, and the beautiful about the other.

Harley, Zoe, and Lily were best friends, and intended to stay that way.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: OHMYGOD I'M SO SORRY.**

**There.**

**That's out of the way.**

**But no, it really isn't. **

**Please please please forgive this WAY overdue update, it's been an inappropriate amount of time. I can't even say that I've been that busy, I was just... not into writing. But I haven been working on the story, just later bits, tidying up a few plot points that'll come into play later.**

**I have good news though! This chapter was supposed to be twice as long. One of the reasons it took so long was because I've been trying to finish the second half, and none of it even made it into the chapter. **

**FML.**

**But anyways, that means I've got about 2-3000 words done of the next chapter! Hooray! I'm not going to promise a superfast update, but I will try my very hardest (reviews would be a nice incentive, though :D )**

**And I also apologize for the bore that is THIS chapter. The Har/Zo/Lil analysis will have most of you pulling out your hair and screaming at me through your computer "SMILE! COME ON! GET TO THE PLOT, FOR GOD'S SAKE!"**

**But think of all of this as foreplay. Zoe and Harley needed some more of their characters revealed, and you needed to know most of that for later on. So yaaay, Smile gets to write an essay and you all will be less confused! woo! :D**

**Please, guys, write a review! I have no idea what you like or don't like, and it's driving me insane. Help me out here? Thank you! :D **

**Remember, more reviews, FASTER UPDATES! Let's not let this 'not-updating-for-a-month' EVER happen again!**

**Cool.**

**NEXT TIME: The Quidditch Game (and wild drunken after party, of course!) Two new characters that have been mentioned before, but one of them will be a major character for a while, and the other will... well, let's not ruin the surprise. **

**Until Next Time!**

**~Smile  
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	6. Author's Note

**Author's Note**

**Hey everyone. I know it's been forever and a day since I updated, and I'm sorry to keep all of you waiting this long. I've finally come back, but with bad news. ****I'm putting this story on hiatus for now. I need to work some things out with it, what I want from it, etc. To tell you the truth, I'm starting over. I don't think I could put out yet another L/J fic about their seventh year and how they get together in the most generic way possible,** **there are just too many of those already. I'm gonna warn you: when this story comes back (and it will, I promise!) it'll most likely be a Sirius/OC story. I've never done one, so I figure it'll be fun. Plus, if WTYON continued to go the direction I planned for it, the sequel would just be a Sirius/Harley story anyways. Might as well start that off from the very beginning.  
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**So yeah. Don't hate me, don't attack me with some pitch forks and fire, I just need to rethink some things. **

**I am, however, working on a little Lily/James ficlet just for fun. More comedy-centered than drama, so look out for that. (:  
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**Love you all, I haven't abandoned you! **

**Until Next Time!**

**~Smile  
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